Many observers would insist that U.S. politics have never been more tumultuous than in the first quarter of the 21st century, but even a casual acquaintance with the history of the country's early decades belies that claim. In A Perfect Coincidence, Jim Rasenberger (Revolver) offers ample evidence for that proposition in a lively depiction of the era, seen through the complex relationship between two of its preeminent figures: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
The book's title refers to the remarkable fact that Adams and Jefferson died on the same day--July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But as Rasenberger reveals in this smoothly paced chronological account, their public careers and private lives intersected in innumerable ways over the half-century that followed the country's birth. Though it's well known that both Jefferson and Adams were members of the committee that drafted the Declaration, and that Jefferson served as Adams's vice-president and succeeded him as president in 1801, Rasenberger also illuminates the close bond that formed between the two men in 1784-85, when they served as diplomats in France for their infant nation.
But Rasenberger doesn't confine himself to recounting epochal events, as he devotes considerable attention to the personal lives of both men. He pulls no punches in assessing their shortcomings, frankly revealing Adams's obstinacy, self-regard, and his uncanny talent for political self-sabotage, alongside Jefferson's hypocrisy on the issue of slavery and his lifelong financial profligacy. While he avoids turning his subjects into demigods, he likewise offers no radical reevaluation of their respective places in American history.
One of the most appealing aspects of this work is how the two men overcame long-simmering political grievances to resume in 1812, after a 12-year hiatus, what Rasenberger calls "one of the great correspondences of American history." That rapprochement came about, in part, as a result of an eerily prescient dream related to Adams by the pair's revolutionary colleague and mutual friend, Benjamin Rush. Over their remaining years, Adams and Jefferson regularly exchanged letters that reflected on their lengthy and productive careers, while sharing the deeply personal joys and sorrows experienced by two men fortunate to live long, fruitful lives.
Almost to the end of their days, both men were involved in consequential moments, with the opening of Jefferson's beloved University of Virginia in 1819 and the election of Adams's son, John Quincy, as the sixth president in 1824. Though some of their fellow members of the founding generation may have come close to matching their achievements, none surpassed them. Jim Rasenberger makes that abundantly clear in this engaging work of popular history. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: In a well-paced narrative, Jim Rasenberger explores the many cooperative and contentious intersections in the lives of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.