Customer Reviews

The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum: The Smithsonian

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Interesting read. But to get to the point, the editing job left much to be desired. It becomes a bit tedious to re-read descriptions of people that look to be a cut and paste job (ie. rather than just mentioning names of people who are well known by now in the book, we get a phrase of how they were described when their name was first mentioned, and this is repeated almost eachtime the person is mentioned). Also, certain phrases within sentences are repeated verbatim (just like the name issue mentioned above). Did anyone read this book before it went to print?

For any author, writing on the subject of "The Stranger and the Statesman" would seem to be a daunting task. After all, how do you create a compelling narrative around a central character about whom scant details exist? Nina Burleigh succeeds in this brilliantly by examining her subject in a larger context, that of Europe and a nascent America over the course of nearly a hundred years. By vividly portraying the world James Smithson was borne into, travelled through and left behind - from its physicality to its politics and social mores (her description of Bath during the social season is a horror and a revelation!) Burleigh draws us into a story that's rich in texture and scope, and that makes Smithson himself appear less enigmatic than he might in less skillful hands. This is not a biography so much as a superbly researched historical investigation by a talented journalist who also happens to have a cinematic eye. From the very first scene depicting Alexander Graham Bell and his coterie exhuming the English benefactor's bones, the whole thing plays out like a Merchant/Ivory production.

I found this book to be a bit of a slow-starter. Smithson is pretty well absent for the first 50 pages, as the author goes into quite a bit of detail concerning the mating habits and inheritance rights of the British aristocracy. The information on inheritance is relevant, as it ties into the tale of Smithson's bequest. The amorous adventures, though certainly fun to read about, don't seem essential to the story. But have no fear - eventually Ms. Burleigh settles down to business and we learn about James Smithson, assorted oddball scientists, John Quincy Adams, 19th century Washington D.C., etc. We also learn the unsurprising fact that they had some sleazy politicians back then (Smithson's gift of $500,000, equal today, perhaps, to $50 million, "disappeared" and was only replaced by the Treasury after John Quincy Adams screamed bloody-murder), and we also learn the depressing fact that Congressmen were just as provincial, and as ignorant concerning scientific matters, 160 years ago as they are today. The mind boggles that many politicians didn't want to take the money for fear the establishment of the Smithsonian would increase the power of the Federal government. Some Anglophobes, still smarting from two wars with the British, didn't want to taint American tastebuds with the financial crumbs (admittedly, a healthy portion of crumbs) tossed our way by an Englishman. Just as interesting was the fact that even those who were glad to get the money didn't know what to do with it. After all, Smithson wanted the money to be used to "increase and diffuse Knowledge among men." How do you go about doing that....exactly? It was not inevitable that the Smithsonian would become highly involved with research and expeditions...some people just wanted it to be a library, and some people just wanted it to be a museum. John Quincy Adams, despite being dour and a bit of a "downer," personality-wise, comes across in these pages as a hero. When Washington was still full of muddy roads, mosquitoes, and politicians who liked to spit, swear, booze it up, and even bring their hunting dogs to the floor of the House, Adams pushed for high culture and learning. Alexander Graham Bell also comes through with high marks: in 1903, when Smithson's body was in danger of falling into the Mediterranean (the British cemetery in Genoa was gradually falling into the sea due to blasting from a nearby marble quarry), Bell made the trip to Italy, hacked his way through Italian bureaucracy, and brought Smithson's remains to America. The section dealing with Smithson as scientist is also fascinating. Although not a great or original thinker, Smithson amassed quite a collection of minerals and did the laborious work of subjecting all of his accumulated material to painstaking chemical analysis. He was a member of the Royal Society and knew some interesting, if odd, fellow scientists. Ms. Burleigh relishes telling us about the aristocrat-scientist Henry Cavendish, who "was shy and bashful to a degree bordering on disease" (according to a contemporary), who hated women, and who, although fabulously wealthy, always attended Royal Society dinners with just enough money to pay for his dinner - and not a shilling more. We also meet the extremely eccentric geologist William Buckland, who "claimed to have eaten his way through the whole of the animal kingdom, declaring at first that moles were nastiest." Ms. Burleigh also enjoys telling us that at one time Royal Society members vowed to eat only fish and pudding at their meetings. The reason? They were trying to help out Edmond Halley (of comet fame) - who had no teeth. This book is a well-balanced mixture of the light and the enlightening, and of science, politics and personalities. If you have any interest in either the Royal Society or in the history of the Smithsonian, I am sure you will enjoy a stroll through the pages of this book.

Burleigh's book painstakingly peels back the opaque covers of history to acquaint us with the quirky, obsessive, and surprisingly fascinating characters on both sides of the Atlantic whose money and ideas spawned the Smithsonian Institution. The book profiles the reclusive, English scientist who bequeathed an inherited fortune to a country he had never seen to found an institution for the dissemination of knowledge. His life story as told by Burleigh is a marvelous palette of the scandalously rich nobility and ground-breaking gentlemen scientists of 18th century Europe. Then, the book moves to the rough-and-tumble young nation of America, where suspicion, selfishness and opportunism nearly doomed the Englishman's bequest until a man of then-unpopular vision, former President John Quincy Adams, used all of his Puritanical tenacity to ensure the money was used as the donor intended. Those who enjoy a peek into the lives of real people whose courage, flaws and vision influenced future generations will want to read this book.

This biography details the life of a very strange man and an even stranger family. James Smithson's estate left the equivalent of $50 million to the United States of America, a country in which he had never set foot, to start a museum in his name that would further the knowledge of mankind. Thanks to Smithson's interest in learning, to his poignant desire for respectability, and to his largess, the Smithsonian Institution is today the most extensive and remarkable museum in the world.

This book also lauds John Qunicy Adams, crediting him with almost single-handedly protecting and preserving Smithson's estate until such time as sufficient other individuals joined in a desire to fulfill the dying man's wishes. Adding to the weirdness of Smithson's life is the story of his illness, death, and burial in Italy, followed several decades later by a visit by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, the wealthy American inventor and his reluctant but supportive wife who rescued Smithson's bones from their precarious seaside grave and brought them to America.

You'll not likely see a movie about James Smithson, so you'll have to read this book, especially if you like real-life-trumps-fiction stories.

People want to like this book. I definitely had it on a "to do" list for quite a while. Could there be anything more interesting than John Quincy Adams, James Smithson and the founding of America's greatest scientific institution, the Smithsonian?

James Smithson was a reclusive figure and to be fair little was known about him so the author did not have much to go on. But why fill this work with innocuous filler? The author should have concentrated this work on the embarrassing shenanigans surrounding Smithson's bequest once the money reached America and go on from there. There is plenty to fill a 267 page book once his money reached these shores. Instead the author focuses, as another reviewer has succinctly stated it, on the mating habits of Victorian England. Unfortunately, the story of who begat whom out of wedlock three generations removed from the Smithsonian's founding is simply not relevant. Smithson is not born until page 53, 20% of the way through the book, and sadly this work goes downhill from there. Over 200 pages, 75% of the book, pass before Smithson's bequest reaches American shores and the Smithsonian's story can begin.

When the reader finally meets John Quincy Adams the author pursues yet another series of events completely unrelated to the museum's founding. As the author explains in considerable detail, John Quincy Adams spent 15 or so years defeating the Congressional Gag Rule. This law forbid even the discussion of slavery and suspended a fundamental American liberty, the right to petition Congress. But it had nothing to do with John Quincy Adam's fight to protect James Smithson's bequest and the ultimate establishment of the Smithsonian. So why, one wonders, is time devoted to it? It simply has nothing to do with Adams' involvement with protecting Smithson's money from those who viewed the Smithson windfall as an opportunity for their individual political largess. The juicy parts surrounding the Smithsonian's founding, i.e., the theft of Smithson's legacy by Arkansas and Illinois, the subsequent loss of the money by the Treasury Department and JQA's fight to have Congress reinstate the money out of Federal funds, is only treated in passing.

The Smithsonian is America's first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment, one that has since funded thousands of scientific and exploratory projects around the world. It has given the nation's capital an enduring cultural foundation. It is an American icon physically present in the most unique architectural rendering on the National Mall and is a point of significant interest for every visitor to Washington, DC. It is simply too bad that this work fails to live up to the promise of the key portion of its title that actually sells this book, i.e., The Making of America's Greatest Museum: The Smithsonian.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about The Smithsonian and how it came about. Smithson was an eccentric...no doubt about it, and there is little for us to go on to guage why he made the U.S. his heir, especially when he spent his life trying to 'ratify' his own place among the elite of England. But we Americans do not refuse a 'gift horse.' Especially one that would enable us to contend with the British museums. Adams may have not had his father's sense of humor, but he was smart enough to accept this gift, and see that it was used the way that Smithson intended it to be used. A very outstanding historical story, and well-researched. Glad to know the background of the Smithsonian...

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

At first glance, the subject matter of this eloquent book might seem too esoteric to fascinate, but indeed the opposite is true. With brilliant detective work, and elegant, captivating writing, Nina Burleigh paints a rich portrait of the odd Englishman who mysteriously bequeathed his fortune to this country in order to found the institution that became the Smithsonian. From the first page, Burleigh makes history come to life with vivid descriptions of 18th-early 19th century life and people on both sides of the pond. Graceful sentences, one right after the other, evoke that muddy, tumultuous time. So many aspects of the early history, culture, and daily life of this country, as well as of Europe at that time are woven into the compelling plot. Historic figures such as Alexander Bell and John Quincy Adams have life breathed into them. This tale is also a wonderful portrayal of how the fledgling United States struggled to define itself, and of the birth of the industrial and scientific age. The scope of Burleigh's research is astounding, and the elegance with which she presents it is deeply satisfying.

The first half of the book is a biography of James Smithson, the Smithsonian's benefactor, although little is really known of him. He was the illegitimate son of an English nobleman in the 18th century, and few records about him survive. It's a mystery why he left his fortune-half a million dollars in that day's currency, equivalent to about $50 million today-to the United States, and there was a lot of debate over whether it should be accepted! Then once it was accepted in theory, there was a significant challenge in physically procuring the money (eventually transported across the Atlantic in the form of gold). And finally, there was much disagreement about how the money should be used and a fair amount of graft and corruption that obliterated the principle. Quite an intriguing story. The book itself is a little too meandering for my tastes; the author tries too hard to fill in the blanks with conjecture and imagination. But well worth perusing.

A great short read about a wonderful institution. The perfect book to read while traveling.