Sarah Marshall and Amelia Laing are reading their way through biographies of all the presidents, in order. This time up, it's John Adams and the books discussed are David McCullough's John Adams and John Ferling's John Adams: A Life.

Sarah Marshall: In the first installment of this series, Amelia and I talked about George Washington, and we both came to the conclusion that, despite the insights a biographer can afford us, it's still hard to see him as a man rather than a symbol. No matter how many self-questioning diary entries we read, we can't quite forget the image of the giant in buff and blue. Not so, [...]

Awl pal Seth Colter Walls chats with composer John Adams on the eve of Nixon in China's Metropolitan Opera premiere. There is video! (Of the production, not of Seth chatting with John Adams.)

It has been brought to our attention that John Adams-yes, the composer-is also a blogger. Well bowl me over. Here is a new post from him about watching Fox News on someone else's screen whilst on Jet Blue! O"Reilly looks like an angry, dyspeptic dad who's not enjoying his Twelve Step regime and relates to his family by insulting them. The facial gestures are pained, ironic…'Can you believe it? How stupid can you get?' Hannity is the thick-necked would-be jock with the close-cropped military haircut. He's a jolly back thumper, a wet towel-snapping NASCAR kind of guy with attitude. He's REASONABLE, for chrissake…. Glenn Beck looks like a four [...]