The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics [Paperback]

Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as an aloof intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from defeat in 1828s presidential election to lead the nation as a lonely Massachusetts congressman in the fight against slavery. Award-winning historian William J. Coopers balanced, wellsourced, and accessible work (A vivid and convincing account of one of the most significantbut too often overlookedfigures in our history.Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of In this illuminating new look at John Quincy Adams, the distinguished historian William J. Cooper gives us a vivid and convincing account of one of the most significantbut too often overlookedfigures in our history. Long obscured by the towering shadow of his fathers generation on one side and by Andrew Jackson on the other, our sixth president merits more study and credit. In these pages, Cooper gives him both. There is a certain urgency to new studies of presidents of the republic. William Coopers well-crafted life of John Quincy Adams, a learned and well-trained president with a conscience touching the moral questions of his day, admirably fits that bill. John Quincy Adams was a world traveler and full-throated nationalist, primed from youth for a life in politics. His path to success was marred by a cold, forbidding character that he could not shake. As he did in his prize-winning biography of Jefferson Davis, William J. Cooper here brilliantly balances a perceptive portrait of John Quincy Adamss personal life and character&with an astute and compelling analysis of his decades-long public career. The result is another first-class performance. Coopers balanced, well-sourced, and accessible work focuses on a rarely examined yet pivotal period in American history. US