Schiff paints a vivid portrait of a demagogue who was also a decorous man of ideals, acknowledging Adams’s innovative, extralegal activities as well as his personal virtues.

[A] tour de force.

The first two-thirds of The Revolutionary make for riveting, suspenseful and even laugh-out-loud reading.

... charged.

Lacking new documents from Adams, Schiff settles for recounting the famous events of colonial resistance in Boston.

Terrific.

Schiff keeps Samuel Adams’ story lively even through what might be the otherwise tedious minutiae of the Stamp Act..

Revelatory and frequently riveting.

This is a meticulously researched and often eloquent work of historical biography, but it’s an occasionally dry cerebral exercise, lacking some of the author’s typical storytelling verve. Still, Schiff offers a welcome, fresh study featuring notions of liberty and democracy that feel particularly relevant in today’s consistently tumultuous political landscape.