In a myth-like synchronicity, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both passed away on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was a fitting concurrence, not only for its symbolic significance for the nation, but because these two men, who for so much of their lives were bitter political rivals, lived out the end of their days in amicable friendship.

Tracing this dramatic friendship was famed historian David McCullough’s original task when he set out to write the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book John Adams, but McCullough found Adams so compelling that he decided to make him the focus. After reading the book, it’s easy to see why.