John Quincy Adams

June 11, 2012
The son of American icons John and Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams transcended his parents’ high expectations, serving his country as a 15-year-old diplomat (as secretary to the American minister to Russia), U.S. president, and later, congressman. Unger (The Last Founding Father) asserts that Adams’s positions on abolition and the promotion of science showed him to be prescient, while his outwardly reserved ambition revealed him as a Revolutionary relic whose earnest legal mind garnered him the respect of the fiercely partisan congressmen who surrounded him on his Capitol deathbed. Though Unger oversimplifies the initial American support for the revolutionary French during the elder Adams’s tenure as president, he eloquently details the diplomatic headaches caused by both the infamous XYZ Affair and ever-changing Gallic governments. Spare prose clarifies the overview of political complications and intricate family dynamics, revealing Adams as a historically overlooked yet key transitional figure who witnessed the birth of the nation and endured its nearly irreparable geographic squabbles of the 1840s. Always serving the public with style and conviction, this “towering figure in the formative years” of the nation earned both his parents’ respect and a place in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. 43 illus., 4 maps.

Starred review from April 1, 2013

This biography of sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams offers a unique perspective on American history. Adams's life bridges the birth of the country to the seeds of the Civil War's controversies over slavery and states' rights. Unger has written several biographies of Founding Fathers and his easy familiarity with that period in American history provides a solid background for this work. Adams, the only president to later serve in Congress, had strong ideals and principles. This versatile statesman (foreign minister, Secretary of State, Congressman, Senator, and President), contributed much to the formation of the United States, and Unger gives him his due. Johnny Heller's energetic and enthusiastic reading transmits Adams's personal concerns and passions. Recommended for American history buffs, particularly those who enjoyed David McCullough's book on the subject's father. ["Although there are other books on John Quincy Adams, American history and political history buffs will find this stirring work irresistible," read the review of the Da Capo hc, LJ 9/1/12.--Ed.]--Cheryl Youse, Colquitt Cty. H.S., Moultrie, GA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.