John Quincy Adams

February 10, 2014
Widely considered the nation’s greatest secretary of state and its most experienced diplomat, Adams was a member of the House and Senate, President for one term, and one of only two chief executives to return to Congress (the other being Andrew Johnson). Kaplan—an experienced biographer of Carlyle, Dickens, Vidal, Twain, and Lincoln—follows a long line of Adams biographers trying to capture this complex, difficult, multifaceted figure , and he does well enough: while there’s not much new here, Kaplan, unlike most previous Adams biographers, devotes much attention to the man’s private life and interests, especially to his poetry, which Adams wrote all his life and to which Kaplan brings unique attention. But what makes Adams of major historical importance remains his unprecedented experience as an American in Europe, his co-authorship of the Monroe Doctrine, and his brilliant late-life battle in the House against slavery. A full-life biography such as this should give those achievements full prominence, something that is lacking here. That said, Kaplan’s work is an estimable study of a significant American life and very much up to the level of his earlier books.

March 15, 2014

Kaplan (Distinguished Professor Emeritus, English, Queens Coll. & CUNY Graduate Ctr.; Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer) reconsiders John Quincy Adams (JQA), secretary of state, academic, attorney (e.g., the Amistad case), one-term president (1825-29), and later an outspoken member of Congress. Using Adams's voluminous diary, correspondence, and writings (including poetry), Kaplan contends that JQA should be remembered for the totality of his life and that he possibly influenced several succeeding presidents. According to Kaplan, JQA anticipated: the abolition of slavery; a national transportation infrastructure; government-funded science; land-grant colleges; U.S. involvement with Latin America; a Panama canal; and an active postpresidency. Multilingual and well informed, he supported both increased individual liberty and the economically stimulative role of the national government. Kaplan relays a great deal about Adams's relationships with his political opponents; his parents, Abigail and John; his wife, Louisa; and his often troubled children, although perhaps too much about their and others' illnesses. VERDICT Aiming to be comprehensive, Kaplan reveals details that scholars will appreciate but that may turn away general readers who might find the briefer, arguably sprightlier, biographies by Robert Remini or Paul Nagel more appealing. However, academics will savor Kaplan's methodical and meticulous study. [See Prepub Alert, 11/3/13.]--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2014
A failed president is the popular conception of the sixth chief executive of the U.S., but Kaplan's open mind as he diligently researched this much-maligned figure and conceived the biographical picture he would construct based on his wide reading and study results in a much broader understanding. With great felicity of style, Kaplan, who is not only an esteemed biographer (his Thomas Carlyle, written in 1993, was a finalist for two top prizes) but also a professor of English, pays respect to his academic background by following as a major thread in this monumental biography Adams' giftedness as a writer, as his many public writings and copiously kept diary attest. An outstanding diplomat prior to his occupancy of the White House, Adams, son of the second president, stumbled badly in the highest office in the land. But Kaplan sees not an inadequate man in a position he could not manage. He sees instead a visionary, who stood for a united American republic free of the divisiveness of slavery. The lack of accomplishments during Adams' one-term presidency was the result, as Kaplan depicts it, of his enemies' concerted and united effort to thwart any of the programs he endeavored to achieve.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2013

Multi-awarding-winning author Kaplan highlights President John Quincy Adams's linguistic gifts along with his political accomplishments. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2014
In this elegant study, Kaplan (Emeritus, English/Queens Coll.; Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, 2008, etc.) portrays our sixth president as a deeply literary man, devout husband, orator, diplomat and teacher who had grand plans for the country's future, including the building of national infrastructure and the abolition of slavery. Indeed, John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was concerned about America's loss of innocence in its rapid expansion and growing distance from its foundational ideals. A prodigious, gifted writer, he worried about "the internal health of the nation," with the squabbling between the Republicans and Federalists during the contested presidential elections, the addition of slave states to the union and the War of 1812, which had revealed the country's evolution into "a parcel of petty tribes at perpetual war with one another." Like his father, Quincy Adams was Harvard-educated, a lawyer and inculcated to answering the call of his country, despite his own wishes. For example, he was appointed to diplomatic posts (his first training being next to his father in Paris from the age of 10) at The Hague and St. Petersburg. Yet the wandering life suited this restless intellect, and he even rejected a Supreme Court nomination since he fashioned himself a man of action and, moreover, was the only ex-president to serve in Congress (from his home state of Massachusetts). A loyal, loving husband to foreign-born, French-speaking Louisa, he lost all but one son during his lifetime. He was also tainted by the hint of a "corrupt bargain" in trading electoral votes for elevating Henry Clay to secretary of state, and he was hounded out of the presidency by his political opponents led by Andrew Jackson. However, his argument in defense of the Amistad prisoners before the Supreme Court in 1841 was a powerful plea for the cause of justice. Kaplan ably navigates his subject's life, showing us "a president about whom most Americans know very little." A lofty work that may propel readers back to Quincy Adams' own ardent writings.

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