John Adams: A Resource Guide

Selected Bibliography

Finding Books by and about John Adams

The Library of Congress online catalog contains approximately forty subject headings for books related to John Adams. To find works on any of these topics, select Basic Search, and enter the words Adams, John into the search box; then choose the Subject Browse option. You will get the list of Adams-related subject headings. Click on any heading to see a list of titles that have that subject heading; and click on any of the titles to access the book's bibliographic record.

From among the hundreds of Adams-related titles in the Library of Congress collections, the bibliography below highlights the most significant editions of works by Adams and a limited selection of biographies and other works particularly useful to general and younger readers.

Selected Works by Adams

Adams, Charles Francis, ed. The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States. 10 vols. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1850-56.
LC Call Number: E302 .A26 [Catalog Record]

Butterfield, Lyman H., et al., eds. The Adams Family Correspondence. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963-.
LC Call Number: E322.1 .A27 [Catalog Record]

Butterfield, Lyman H., et al., eds. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. 4 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1961.
LC Call Number: E322 .A3 [Catalog Record]

Cappon, Lester J., ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. 1959; rpt. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
LC Call Number: E322 .A4 1988 [Catalog Record]

Carey, George W., ed. The Political Writings of John Adams. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2000.
LC Call Number: JC176 .A33 2000 [Catalog Record]

Diggins, John Patrick, ed. The Portable John Adams. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
LC Call Number: E302 .A262 2004 [Catalog Record]

Hogan, Margaret A., and C. James Taylor, eds. My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
LC Call Number: E322 .A4 2007 [Catalog Record]

Taylor, Robert J., et al., eds. The Papers of John Adams. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977-.
LC Call Number: E302 .A26 1977 [Catalog Record]

Wroth, L. Kinvin, and Hiller B. Zobel, eds. Legal Papers of John Adams. 3 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965.
LC Call Number: KF213.A33 W76 1965 [Catalog Record]

Selected Biographies of Adams

Brown, Ralph A. The Presidency of John Adams. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1975.
LC Call Number: E321 .B84 [Catalog Record]

Diggins, John P. John Adams. New York: Times Books, 2003.
LC Call Number: E322 .D54 2003 [Catalog Record]

Ellis, Joseph J. Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York: Norton, 1993.
LC Call Number: E321 .E45 1993 [Catalog Record]

Ferling, John E. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
LC Call Number: E330 .F47 2004 [Catalog Record]

Ferling, John E. John Adams: A Life. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
LC Call Number: E322 .F47 1992 [Catalog Record]

Grant, James. John Adams: Party of One. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
LC Call Number: E322 .G73 2005 [Catalog Record]

Haraszti, Zoltan. John Adams and the Prophets of Progress. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952.
LC Call Number: E322 .H3 [Catalog Record]

McCullough, David G. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
LC Call Number: E322 .M38 2001 [Catalog Record]

Shaw, Peter. The Character of John Adams. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 1976.
LC Call Number: E322 .S54 [Catalog Record]

Smith, Page. John Adams. 2 vols. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962.
LC Call Number: E322 .S64 [Catalog Record]

Bibliographies

Ferling, John E., comp. John Adams: A Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
LC Call Number: Z8015.6 .F46 1994 E322 [Catalog Record]

Guidas, John T, and Marilyn K. Parr, comps. The Presidents of the United States: The First Twenty Years. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993.
LC Call Number: Z1239 .P74 1993 E310 [Catalog Record]

Sayler, James, comp. Presidents of the United States--Their Written Measure: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1996.
LC Call Number: Z1249.P7 S29 1996 [Catalog Record]

Younger Readers

Behrman, Carol H. John Adams. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 2004.
LC Call Number: E322 .B44 2004 [Catalog Record]

Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. John Adams: America’s 2nd President. New York: Children’s Press, 2003.
LC Call Number: E322 .F54 2003 [Catalog Record]

Harness, Cheryl. The Revolutionary John Adams. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.
LC Call Number: E322 .H37 2003 [Catalog Record]

Kent, Zachary. John Adams: Creating a Nation. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2004.
LC Call Number: E322 .K46 2004 [Catalog Record]

Lukes, Bonnie L. John Adams: Public Servant. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds, 2001.
LC Call Number: E322 .L84 2001 [Catalog Record]

St. George, Judith. John & Abigail Adams: An American Love Story. New York: Holiday House, 2001.
LC Call Number: E322 .S78 2001 [Catalog Record]