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Paul C. Nagel
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John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life Paperback – April 15, 1999

by Paul C. Nagel (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 217
See all formats and editions
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John Quincy Adams was raised, educated, and groomed to be President, following in the footsteps of his father, John. At fourteen he was secretary to the Minister to Russia and, later, was himself Minister to the Netherlands and Prussia. He was U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and then President for one ill-fated term. His private life showed a parallel descent. He was a poet, writer, critic, and Professor of Oratory at Harvard. He married a talented and engaging Southerner, but two of his three sons were disappointments. This polymath and troubled man, caught up in both a democratic age not to his understanding and the furies of passion, was an American lion in winter.
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  1. Print length
    466 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  4. Publication date
    April 15, 1999
  5. Dimensions
    6.18 x 1.15 x 9.21 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0674479408
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0674479401
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Nagel has set out to explore his hero's inner life...It is a story told largely from the vantage point of the subject.”―Wall Street Journal

“Nagel offers a rich portrait of the moody and anxiety-ridden Adams...This biography remov[es] the dust from his portrait and restor[es] the glow of historical significance to his splendid and troubled life.”―Washington Post

“Paul C. Nagel focuses on the sources of Adams's curious mixture of duty and defiance...It is the character of the man, his personality, that dominates this biography...Nagel has given us a John Quincy Adams with a heart as well as a head.”―Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Nagel clearly knows his topic inside out, and his account of Adam's eventful life--from diplomat to professor to President--is eminently readable...This book is thoroughly engaging. We glimpse a side of Adams that he preferred to keep private: his eye for the ladies, his self-lacerating depressions, his contempt for what he referred to as the 'crazy' orations of Ralph Waldo Emerson...What emerges from Nagel's book is a more fully rounded character.”―Paul Giles, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Winner of the Colonial Dames of America Award

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (April 15, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 466 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674479408
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674479401
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.49 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.18 x 1.15 x 9.21 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 217

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Paul C. Nagel

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
217 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A book well worth your effort to read
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013
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This is a long book, but it is not hard reading, and it will hold your interest. This son of Massachusetts was not the most lovable of our presidents, but he may have been the most prepared of all to serve in this capacity. For starters, he went to Russia when he was only 14 as the clerk and translator for the US ambassador to Russia as he was fluent in several European languages, including Russian, and the ambassador was not. John Quincy started his diplomatic career at even a much younger age when he accompanied his famous father on his first assignment to France at the time of the American Revolution. Later, he was also with his father when the latter was appointed to England as US ambassador. The Adams family was probably the poorest of the founding fathers. They were not prominent, wealthy planters as were the Virginians. (The Virginians may have been short of cash flow, but they were rich in land and slaves.) It was in England that young Quincy found his beautiful young wife, the talented oldest daughter of a wealthy family. To his great chagrin, right after his betrothal he discovered that the family had lost their money, and they were not able to meet the expectations of the coming wedding. The young couple made a go of it anyway, overcoming many impediments, not least of which was the bride's unhappiness with the frugal, puritanical Abigail Adams, now her mother-in-law. John Quincy was forced to move his bride to Washington, DC where he received a number of political appointments, including Secretary of State, and she thrived in the social atmosphere and became a hostess of renown. This obviously furthered John Quincy's political career, and it is too bad that his presidency was blighted by the fact that congress. believing that Jackson really won the election, blocked Quincy's every move. After his one-term presidency, he happily went back to congress where he served for many terms, finally expiring after several days on the Capitol sofa after suffering a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives. Quincy was the success story in the Adams family. Perhaps John and Abigail neglected their other children as they concentrated their pride and efforts on their talented eldest. The one daughter made an unfortunate marriage and died young, and the younger brothers seemed to be hopeless cases. Did they receive a bum rap from the gene pool? Some biographers of the Adams family believe that they did. Of John Quincy's sons, only one, Charles, showed the talent of the Adams family, while the others sunk into the alcoholism and gambling that led them as well as their uncles into early graves. There is some evidence that one of Abigail's brothers suffered the same fate. However you look at it though, with all the world-wide and historical events involving the 3 more famous Adams, can it be that the younger members of the family simply fell through the cracks? I believe it was Charles who assembled his father and grandparents' voluptuous writings and preserved them for posterity.
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Robert G. Rosenthal
4.0 out of 5 stars Great psychological profile of JQA the person
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2012
Verified Purchase
John Quincy Adams (or JQA) was a brilliant, but troubled man, who never seemed to feel as if he accomplished very much. A Harvard educated Lawyer, scholar, writer, orator, diplomat, and having served in public office for over 60 years, he was his own worst enemy.

Like his father, the 2nd President John Adams, John Quincy Adams was a difficult person, and a person who liked to be surrounded in controversy, and was not afraid of forcing his opinion on others. This led to his developing many enemies in government, among which were his successor as President, Andrew Jackson, and others. Over his life, his dread of slavery and concern about its spread of in the United States, made him despised by many in the South, where human enslavement thrived throughout his lifetime. His denouncement of it, and growing hatred of it throughout his life and career made him the brunt of jokes, ridicule in the press, and a target for bullies while serving in government. His oratory skills, however, drove the sentiment among the public (mostly in the north) to speak out against the horrors of slavery.

An interesting character, his personality was formed by a driving father, and strong mother who rarely showed trust of belief in her son. She constantly berated him as he was young, and even into adulthood, about watching out for temptations of flesh. She never trusted that he would follow "Christian" morals. Eventually, she shut off his communication with her, failing to respond to her letters.

Raised primarily in Europe, where his father was a diplomat, he developed a fondness for all things European and became fluent in several languages. His diplomatic skills honed, he was first appointed to the US Diplomatic Corps by George Washington. Throughout his diplomatic career, he was assigned to France, England, Holland, Belgium and Russia. He returned to the US where he was elected to Congress, and eventually became Secretary of State under President James Monroe. He followed Monroe as President. Although he lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson, he was given the Presidency by the House of Representatives.

This caused severe tension in government, led by those who felt he stole the Presidency from the one who deserved it and won the popular vote. There was a wedge drawn between him and the southern states, and the spite shown to him caused his Presidency to be largely a failure and uneventful. He lost his second term to Jackson in what has become known as the bitterest election in the history of the United States.

Although he largely felt a failure, he was elected to Congress where he served until the day he died. He was not only a champion of freeing the slaves, he argued and fought in congress for ensuring the US was a peaceful country. When the US went to war with Mexico over ownership of what is now Texas, he was one of a dozen congressmen who voted against the war.

If I were to diagnose JQA, psychologically, I would guess that he was bipolar and paranoid. He had tremendous highs, where he would travel, orate and write journals, and serious lows where he would contemplate his own death. Louisa, his wife of over 50 years, served to help him through these crises, although it took a tremendous toll on her. She was his intellectual equal, and was the first of the First Ladies of the United States who did more than simply entertain guests.

I found the book remarkable. At 400 pages, it is certainly not the longest book written about a US politician. The author, Paul Nagel, drew his research primarily from the volumes of personal documents the former President left behind. Interestingly, with all of his remarkable accomplishments, only one chapter is dedicated to his Presidency. Given everything else the man accomplished in his life, one chapter probably was enough. But, I found the level of detail in the book to be both a help and a hindrance. There were times where the tedium was high, and reading became difficult. All in all, the detail in the book brought life to a man dead for almost 200 years. I applaud this book as a real triumph in showing the character of a man who had a tremendous impact on the development of this new country.
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