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John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit Hardcover – March 22, 2016

by James Traub (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 45 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 640 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books (March 22, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0465028276
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465028276
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.8 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsTremendous biography of an underappreciated statesman
By Matthew L. Shiney on April 12, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Mr. Traub has written an excellent biography of one of the most underappreciated titans of our Republic. Adams was a man of impeccable integrity and clung dearly to his principles of individual liberty, republicanism, foreign policy realism and nationalism, often at the expense of his political fortunes. His life serves as a model to counter the current status quo of of our self-serving politicians. He was a staunch defender of our founding principles and vigorously fought the "slavocracy" with passion and intellectual force.

Traub does an excellent job of highlighting this man's virtues, as well as his faults. He has done a tremendous service to a man all but forgotten by history. With the exception of Alexander Hamilton and Mr. Adams' own father , there may not be a man who was so instrumental to our history that receives less credit than he is due. He is without a doubt one of our greatest diplomats and congressmen.
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5.0 out of 5 starsJohn Quincy Adams our Sixth President of the United States is well served in this new biography by James Traub
By C. M Mills on May 5, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Adams. As hard as the rocky soil of Braintree Massachusetts. Long before the Bush father and son presidential team there were the famous Adams family! John Quincy was the son of John Adams the second POTUS. He was a stern and stiff Puritan who would not entertain fools with gladness in his flinty heart. He was among other thing:
1. The greatest American diplomat of the nineteenth century: Adams served well in such difficult embassies as those established in Russia during the Napoleonic era, France, the Hague in Holland and the Court of St. James in London. He was a tough and skillful negotiator.
2. Adams was an early advocate of manifest destiny strongly calling for American expansionism all the way to the West Coast.
3.He was the author of the Monroe Doctrine while serving that president as Secretary of State.
4. Adams was a one term president who had difficulty with Congress and his political foes. The nation did remain at peace during his one term presidency. He lost to Andrew Jackson in their 1828 contest for the White House.
5. Adams was an extremely learned man. He read and wrote several languages; wrote a fascinating diary for over fifty years; was an expert on weights and measures and owned a huge library. Brilliant!
6. Adams served in several important governmental positions from Secretary of State, US Senator from Mass. POTUS and as a US Congressman following his service as POTUS.
7. Adams was a strong advocate for the rights of African-Americans. He helped free the Amistad slave revolt persons and died on the floor of the House of Representatives fighting for African-Americans rights.
8. Adams was a man of principle but he was not adverse to fighting well in the dirty donnybrook arena known as American politics!
9.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best presidential biographies I have ever read.
By Mike Powers TOP 1000 REVIEWER on May 16, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
My ongoing project to read a scholarly biography of every American president took a major step forward earlier this month when I discovered a brand-new biography of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. Written by journalist and author James Traub, “John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit” is a masterful example of the presidential biographer’s art. In this superb book, Traub draws a highly detailed and multi-dimensional portrait of John Quincy Adams and the times in which he lived.

Born in 1767, John Quincy Adams was the oldest child of John Adams (American founding father and second president) and Abigail Smith Adams. Young John Quincy always strove to meet the high expectations of his parents, both of whom demanded from him not only great scholarly accomplishment, but also behavior of the highest rectitude.

John Quincy acquired a first-rate classical education under the guidance of his father. He was keenly intellectual, and, by his own admission, highly reserved, judgmental, and rather cold and aloof – much like his parents. Also like his parents, he was a progressive thinker, and a lifelong, resolute foe of slavery.

In his teen years and early adulthood, John Quincy Adams served as his father’s private secretary while the elder Adams was negotiating the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. He was well traveled; he served as an ambassador of the fledgling United States to several European countries; all the while continuing his education.

He returned home and briefly served as a Senator from Massachusetts. His unpopular stands on several issues led him to leave office before finishing his term. Later in life, he served as Secretary of State in the administration of President James Monroe.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsWell-researched and engaging look at an amazing man
By Gene Killian on June 5, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Reading this book in a US election year was sort of depressing, because it made me (starkly) realize that, when it comes to many of our leaders, we're in a sort of reverse evolution. This book brings the brilliant and quirky John Quincy Adams to life. He's perhaps best described by the last words of the text, referring to his wife Louisa: "Her husband, whose soul she had penetrated as no other mortal had and whom she found exasperating, tendentious, intolerant, self-absorbed, and yet, in the end, magnificent." This is a wonderful book and well worth reading.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMagisterial
By Richard J. Tofel on April 18, 2016
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This is a thoroughly readable book about a man almost impossible to love, but perhaps equally impossible not to admire. In a real sense, it serves as a history of the U.S. from about 1775 to 1846. The parallels, admittedly not explored here, to Jimmy Carter in our own time seem striking.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Great Read !!

Love learning more and more about this man. This read accomplished that. A forgotten hero coming to life.

Published 20 hours ago by Green Hill in VT
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent biography of Adams II

This is a sparkling biography of John Quincy Adams--son of a President and part of an extraordinary family, with effects spreading across a number of generations. Read more

Published 3 days ago by Steven Peterson
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful Book

Very interesting and well told story of one of America's most noble political characters. Professor Traub gave an interesting review of his life as well as his character with all... Read more

Published 5 days ago by C. carter
4.0 out of 5 starsFair, insightful, and valuable biography

Just as his father has gain renewed standing in the pantheon of American heros through recent biography, John Quincy Adams has deserved reassessment. Read more

Published 7 days ago by Hal C. Elrod
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Bio of a Great Figure in American History

John Quincy Adams deserves a much more outstanding place in our history than he has at this point. HIs life was an amazing one. Read more

Published 8 days ago by Billinalaska
2.0 out of 5 starsToo Many Mistakes

I don't think I've ever seen so many sloppy errors in a history book. For instance the famous boulevard in Berlin is Unter den Linden, not Unter Ten Linden, and Fredericksburg,... Read more

Published 19 days ago by Dodger Fan
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent! Because I am from New England

Excellent! Because I am from New England, I found it doubly fascinating. John Quincy Adams was truly a hero to our country!

Published 26 days ago by Sarah P. Farnham
4.0 out of 5 starsPublic and private man well presented

Well written book on interesting, patriotic, important American who is often forgotten or ignored
Intermingles stories of the private man with public history
Also a... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Gary T. Moore
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Very well written and informative of a little known president. Larry. Hewitt

Published 1 month ago by Lawrence W Hewitt
5.0 out of 5 starsHistory repeats itself

If you want to understand politics today then you must know about the politics of yesteryear. No better education than John Quincy Adams.

Published 1 month ago by tavia

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