Heirs of an Honored Name

September 2, 2019
Le Moyne College history professor Egerton (Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America) offers a new lens through which to view the 19th-century U.S. in this solid look at the descendants of John Quincy Adams. Adams, a president’s son and a president himself, continued his distinguished career as a public servant and antislavery advocate after leaving the White House. His children and grandchildren were, inevitably, less accomplished. His son Charles Francis Sr., who was also elected to Congress, is the focal character here; Egerton traces his political career, which fell short of his hopes to become a third President Adams despite opportunities in 1872 and 1876, as well as his private life. Of the descendants as a group, Egerton writes, “although talented and highly educated, they all grew to dislike themselves, detest one another, and loathe their lineage.” They turned their backs on John Quincy’s politics as well, abandoning his progressive principles in favor of “the political culture of an earlier age, in which every man knew his place, and women were silent.” By judiciously mining what he terms a “small mountain of highly quotable documentation,” including diaries, letters, and essays, Egerton brings to life the third and fourth generations of America’s first political dynasty. Readers interested in 19th-century culture or the dynamics of American political families will find food for thought here.

September 1, 2019
A study of the devolution of America's first dynasty as it reflected the nation's increasingly democratic and unruly dynamic. American history scholar Egerton (History/Le Moyne Coll.; Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America, 2016, etc.) delves deeply into the third, fourth, and fifth generations of the Adams, finding them more "cripple[ed]" than entitled by the legacy of the great Revolutionary hero and second president, John Adams, and even that of his illustrious son, John Quincy Adams, who served both as president and anti-slavery congressman. As the author discovered while wading through vast amounts of research material--the dense narrative, packed with layered family detail, will lose some readers--the problem was that the Adams "progeny grew up aware of the perfectionist standards demanded of them, but equally mindful of their failures to reach those goals." Alcoholism plagued several of the promising youth--e.g., John Quincy's two brothers, Charles and Thomas--as well as those of the next generation, including two of John Quincy's sons--George and John II--who both died as young men. The one son of John Quincy to carry on valiantly into Victorian responsibility was Charles Francis (Sr.), who was elected to Congress yet never captured the presidency; he also served on the court of St. James in London during the Civil War. His sons were a motley assortment: Charles Francis Jr. enlisted on the Northern side of the war out of familial obligation, but he expressed dismaying racist views. John Quincy II was the first to abandon the Republican Party for the Democratic Party "because of his disaffection for Reconstruction reforms." Henry, rather more versatile, served as his father's secretary in London and became a notable journalist and historian. As for the women of the family, many were gifted, yet most were thwarted. Thankfully, Egerton provides a family tree, which readers will want to keep handy. A deeply researched, recondite, occasionally mind-scrambling maze of familial relations and historical detail.

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August 30, 2019

Egerton (history, Le Moyne Coll., NY; Thunder at the Gates) tells the less-familiar story of an American political dynasty. Inheriting the mantle of his father and grandfather, Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) aspired to be the third Adams to reach the White House, but best served the country as ambassador to Great Britain during the Civil War years. While detailing the personal tragedies and rivalries that afflicted later generations, the author argues that the political upheavals of the Civil War and Reconstruction era were pivotal in sparking the family's decline. Eschewing the more progressive views of John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis and his sons could not understand or accept the egalitarian impulses of postwar America. They were especially out of step with the aspirations of women and newly freed blacks whose demands for equality stamped the period. This was clearly a difficult book to write owing to the immense amount of historical material to be covered and range of documentation available. Unfortunately, it is also grueling to read. Although it raises important issues that could be of interest to a wide audience, its focus on political contests, ideological controversies, and the factionalism of party politics make it challenging for general readers to follow. VERDICT For scholars and serious students of 19th-century American history.--Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

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September 15, 2019
The founders of America won the war, created the nation, and set down its rules. But what happened next? Egerton's (Thunder at the Gates, 2016) biography of America's first political dynasty takes a deep dive into that question and proceeds to lead readers through many more. This is a tale of the dramatic Adams clan and its part in the long nineteenth century. Rather than focusing solely on the famed Adams men, Egerton paints fully realized portraits of the long-suffering Adams women in all their resiliency, tempestuousness, and oft-stifled brilliance. From John Quincy Adams to his more and more politically distanced descendants, the reader traces the hopeful continuation of John Adams' work to the highly disappointing choices made by his great-grandchildren. Deeply researched and brimming with anecdotes, from this narrative emerges not only the decline and fall of the Adams family but also the political scene of the nineteenth century, the rise of modern America, and the unavoidable parallels with our own time as a nation that finds itself increasingly divided.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)