After reading this well written biography, I experienced the sorrows, joys, and accomplishments in the life of one of our country's greatest statesmen.

Lynn H. Parsons has written a biography that is blessedly free from 'academic speak' or the sense that he is only writing for other historians. This is definitely a biography for even the most casual lover of history. Parsons' familiarity with JQA allows him to introduce us to that prickly character as one would introduce an eccentric friend--always aware of the eccentricities but never apologizing for them. Adams (and his father) are two of the greatest of America's early statesmen and two of it's worst politicians. Parsons presents the genius and the folly and allows us to weigh our opinions--tho' its clear where Parsons' affections lie. It is hard to imagine that anyone will (or could) write a better one volume popular biography of JQA. Parsons clearly could tell us much more, but he chooses not to bog his narrative down in the kind of historical detail that glazes the eye of the casual reader. For serious historians this is a valuable book because it doesn't get lost in its own importance--the writing is direct, succinct and keeps the reader aware of the difference of the attitudes of Adams and his contemporaries to our current sensibilities. Parsons ends with a note that JQA's only monument in Washington is a small plaque in statuary hall in the Capitol. I would argue that Adams' best monument in DC is the one he would be proudest of--the Smithsonian Institution he fought so hard to help establish. I highly recommend this book.

While I have enjoyed the most recent work by David McCullough on Adams, this was the book that started it all for me as far as American history was concerned. I remember at the age of 11 watching the PBS series and being enthralled. This book was even better in relaying the story of America's greatest socio-political family. If you can find a copy, get it!

The Profiles of the Presidents series is a superb collection of introductory juvenile biographies for young students, which I think is around the halfway mark in terms of covering everyone from Washington to Bush the Younger. Ironically, it is because of the current resident of the White House that John Quincy Adams has received more attention in recent years. After all, the parallels are extraordinary: both men are the only sons of Presidents to be elected to the office, they both have the same first name but different middle names, and they both lost the popular vote in their first election. Will the parallel continue in 2004? Well, no: because while every other President who was elected with less of the popular vote lost their bid for re-election they both (John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Harrison) lost in rematches with the opponents who won the popular vote (Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland) and that is not going to happen this time because Al Gore did "Saturday Night Live" and disappeared into the sunset.

Michael Burgan begins this book by establishing the idea that the story of John Quincy Adams is that of "A Lifetime of Service." Where Adams is most unique is that there he continued to serve his country after his four difficult years in the White House, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and becoming known as "Old Man Eloquent" for his attacks on slavery (touched on in Steven Spielberg's film "Amistad"). Burgan deals with the problems of being the son of a President but also goes into detail on the extraordinary diplomat career both abroad and at home. The end result is the inevitable conclusion that even if he had not been elected President the life and political career of John Quincy Adams should be remembered.

In addition to the concise but detailed biography, this volume is profusely illustrated with historic etchings, paintings, and maps. Even when the illustrations are black & white they often end up with colored frames, showing the premium placed by the editors on having an eye-catching book. In the back of the book you will find a glossary, fast facts about Adams, a parallel timeline of world and presidential events, extensive resources to help young students better understand the life and times of this particular president, and a decent index. The Profiles of the Presidents series is excellent and Michael Burgan's look at "John Quincy Adams" is one of the best to date.

It is ironic that the thing that reflected poorest on John Quincy Adams, his tenure as president, is what he is today remembered for. In fact, his most outstanding achievements were in the field of foreign affairs and civil liberties. Professor Bemis's book addresses the first of these (the second is handled in vol. 2).

Because of his father's career as a diplomat during the American Revolution, John Adams probably had the best education in foreign affairs of any statesmen in early America. While charges of nepotism haunted Adams, it was money well-spent in terms of results. Adams was posted to Prussia, Russian and Great Britain during the Napoleonic War. He managed to secure a peace treaty with Britain which was threatening to send over the Duke of Wellington to resolve the war of 1812.

As Secretary of State, Adams established the principles that later became enshrined as the Monroe Doxtrine. His vision of Western Hemispheric solidarity was designed to allow the new American Republic to stand up to the more powerful nations of Europe. Adams did much to establish anti-colonialism as the hallmark of American Foreign Policy up to the Second World War.

The job of Secretary of State was seen as the springboard to the presidency in the "Era of Good Feelings." Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe had held this office. The rise of Adams was overshadowed by that of Andrew Jackson. However, given the nature of politics at the time neither he nor Adams were able to achieve a clear victory in electoral college. The inconclusive results of the election of 1824 led to the ultimate decision resting with the House of Representatives. When the fourth runner up and Speaker of the House, Henry Clay was in a position to decide the outcome.

The result was the famous "corrupt bargin" in which Adams came in as president and Clay was appointed to be secretary of state. The hint of "political hanky panky" undermined the presidency of John Quincy Adams. There were a number of good ideas proposed, a national university, a system of observatories, internal improvements featuring a national network of canals and roads that would have opened up the west and promoted greater regional ties and interdependence. Unfortunately these good ideas were ineffective against the charisma of Jackson and the political machinations of Van Buren, the first national political boss. The presidency of John Quincy Adams was ineffective against well-organized congressional opposition.

Beemis is excellent on all points. He correctly assesses the highlights of his career. This is intended to be a scholarly biography, not a popular representation. The level of detail and the flow of the narrative may drag at times, but this book is well worth the effort.

This book is the second volume of a two volume biography of John Quincy Adams and it is the definative study of the subject.

The book takes up in the midst of his presidency. Beemis wisely assesses Adams's presidency as a low point in his career as an American statesman. The focus of the book is career as a congressman, his one foray into the world of popular politics and he performed magnificently.

While in congress the crucial issue was slavery. Adams, like his father, detested the institution. While not an abolitionist, Adams's concern was the effect that this "peculiar institution was having on the politics of the republic.

The justification of slavery seemed to occupy the focus of the southern delgations to Washington during this period. One of the innovations designed to halt discussion was the so-called "gag order" which prevented any petition addressing the subject of slavery to be automatically tabled. While not having the reputation as a popular politician, Adams realized what was at stake by this measure. To maintain slavery, fundamental rights were being sacrificed. To this son of the revolution this endangered all that had come before. If congress could limit the right of petition, it could limit other rights granted by the constitution, something that all branches of government were willing to accept.

Luckily for the future of the United States, Adams was a stubborn fighter who relished the conflict. This book charts his efforts to overturn this measure and to make the government accountable to its citizens.

During this period Adams also defended members of Amistead revolt, fought for the establishment of the Smithsonian Instition (congress had predictably squandered the original bequest), opposed the growth of slavery. Ironically Adams's reputation was more effective as a congressman than he ever was as president. He died in 1848 denouncing the Mexican War. He was carried from the chamber of the House of Representatives by his fellow congressmen, among them Abraham Lincoln, a moment of great symbollism.

Professor Beemis again demonstrates his mastery of his subject. While a distiguished scholar of American diplomatic history, he displays a great grasp of domestic affairs that his often lacking in those who are specialists in this subject.

Gerry and Janet Souter's juvenile biography of "John Quincy Adams: Our Sixth President" is an excellent book for young students to find first person to follow their own father to the Presidency. If there is any chance for a renaissance of interest in the life and career of John Quincy Adams, then it is during the Presidency of George W. Bush that is might actually happen. This book offers four chapters on Adams's life: In His Father's Footsteps, A Career in Politics, The Bitter Presidency, and Duty to the End. It is important that the four years Adams spent in the White House are probably the least significant of his career. Young readers will learn about how Adams spent his early career in the diplomatic service, all because he learned to speak French when he was 10 years old and serving as his father's secretary when John Adams was sent to French to ask for help during the American Revolution. Eventually John Quincy Adams because Secretary of State, which led to him becoming President in a disputed election (sound familiar?) that was thrown into the House of Representatives. It was as a Congressman, known as "Old Man Eloquent" for his speeches attacking slavery, that Adams proved there was a life of public service after the Presidency.

This book focuses on providing basic information about the second Adams to be President, with "Interesting Facts" about his life and times added to the margins. Each chapter has a page devoted to details about his life: sailing on the "Boston" to France, his wife Louisa, his troubled family with regards to his sons, and the "Amistad" affair. There are a couple dozen illustrations in the book, all of which are in color. The back of this volume includes a time line of John Quincy Adams's life, a glossary of three dozen words, information on all of the Presidents form Washington to Bush, Presidential facts, and internet sites and books for finding further information. Older students or those looking for more detailed information about Adams in a juvenile biography should turn next to Zachary Kent's biography in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series. The "Our Presidents" books are part of the "Spirit of America" series, which focuses on the American experience in terms of history, culture, and politics.

John Quincy Adams blends history and biography in presenting a new study of the statecraft and life of John Quincy Adams, policy-maker in the early American republic. It's recommended reading for high school and college undergraduate students, as well as any non-specialist general radeing studying early American history and politics.

Zachary Kent provides a more than solid introduction to John Quincy Adams in this volume in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series. The story begins with Adams as the most hated man in Congress because of his insistence on presenting the House of Representatives petitions by citizens demanding an end to slavery. Kent then covers Adams's distinguished career as a diplomat which saw postings in Prussia, Russia and Great Britain before he became James Monroe's Secretary of State. His one term as President actually becomes the least important part of his political career. Adams actually died in the House of Representatives, collapsing before a vote in 1848.

Kent does a nice job of making it clear that for John Quincy Adams duty and character were more important that popularity. When he was elected to the Senate as a Federalist, Adams often supported the policies of President Thomas Jefferson, such as the Louisiana Purchase. When his party actually nominated somebody else to run for the Senate in his place, Adams immediately resigned. This episode is certainly representative of the quality of the man.

This is not a slick looking book but it does provide more than adequate coverage of the life of its subject, which is supposed to be its purpose. There are better looking juvenile biographies of Adams, but they do not provide the amount of information students will find here. This volume is illustrated with dozens of black and white illustrations, mostly engravings and paintings from Adams's lifetime, as well as maps, pamphlets and signatures. The book contains a detailed Chronology of American History that lists virtually ever year from the birth of Washington in 1732 to the crash of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, when this book was published.

Miller presents a detailed history of a remarkable period in U.S. Congressional history leading up to the Civil War. Miller describes the battle waged in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by John Quincy Adams, to preserve the right of citizens to petition their government, and his efforts to keep the issue of slavery before the House. I finally saw one of the important effects of the infamous 3/5's rule, which was to create a power imbalance in Congress in which slave holding states dominated the House due to the additional Congressional Reps. they gained by virtue of their large slave populations. It was this imbalance that hindered Congress from a full debate regarding the abolition of slavery. Extremely informative, very well researched and documented, and Miller weaves a witty commentary throughout that is most enjoyable. This is a book that should be read in every high school American History class. It is at times dry (big surprise as Miller details Congressional proceedings) but nonetheless fascinating. I have a new appreciation of the contribution of Adams to the battle against slavery.

This book deals with events from 1835 to 1845 and is principally concerned with John Quincy Adams' fight over the House rule which forbad the reception of petitions about slavery. This may seem like a narrow issue to be the subject of a 556 page book, but this book is flawlessly written, and has great humor--exposing the idiocy of the slavery upholders--and at times brought tears to my eyes. A dropback to the stirring events of 1775 and 1776, found on pages 155 to 157, is as good a writing as I have ever seen evoking the sheer drama of those days. This is a nigh flawless book for one as interested as I am in congressional history and the years before the Civil War.

Try discussing the relative role of slavery in the American Civil War, and the discussion will likely turn on its ear quickly, with little generated other than heated words. So often, it seems, we cannot discuss this subject except with anesthetic prose, or highly spirited points of view. Not so with William Lee Miller's Arguing About Slavery. The author, Thomas C. Sorensen Professor Political and Social Thought at the University of Virginia, has crafted a wonderfully expressed story of the battle over slavery in the 1830s and 1840s on the floor of Congress.

To those of us in the late twentieth century, the idea of petitioning to consider a prayer for action, the Constitutional sanctity of the act, and the relative abuse of the privilege by Congressmen both North and South seems the actions of an almost foreign government. The nearly maniacal desire of Congress to avoid any discussion of slavery in toto also seems incredible in light of government today. Using Congressional records to retell the story in the words of the participants, Miller weaves a fascinating tale as forces in the North try to ensure the rights of their petitioners, as well as deal with continued efforts to stop them dead in their tracks.

There are three major areas to the book: the opening of the slavery issues in Congress, with the presentation and fights by Southern radicals to keep any admittance of them from even appearing in Congress, the development and passage of the "gag rule," in which any attempt to place a petition in front of Congress regarding slavery was "gagged," and finally, the story of former President John Quincy Adams in these fights, and his efforts to support the rights of American constituents in these battles.

The story of Adams is the centerpiece of the book. In laying out the man who would not back down to both Southern and Northern Democratic interests, Miller brings back to life an American figure who is likely lost to many of our generation. Adams, already in his sixties as the slavery battles began, was an unlikely hero. Having served in nearly every capacity he could prior to agreeing to run for Congress after his presidential term, he brought a dogged determination to duty that is hardly recognizable in today's terms. Adams was not an abolitionist, but he was determined that the voices of his constituents, should they be of an abolition ideal, should be heard in the halls of Congress. To that end, he battled for a decade to make those voices heard.

Making use of Adams's massive personal diary, historical context, as well as the Congressional Globe coverage of the proceedings of Congress, Miller delivers the story of these battles in the words of those who were there. Thus, we can see the fanatical words of South Carolinian planter James Henry Hammond: "And I warn the abolitionists, ignorant, infatuated, barbarians that they are, that if chance shall throw any of them into our hands he may expect a felon's death," and Waddy Thompson, Jr.: "In my opinion nothing will satisfy the excited, the almost frenzied South, but an indignant rejection of these petitions [calling for the end of slavery in the District of Columbia]; such a rejection as will at the same time that it respects the right of petitioning, express the predetermination, the foregone conclusion of the House on the subject -- a rejection, sir, that will satisfy the South, and serve as an indignant rebuke to the fanatics of the North." And finally, we see and hear in our minds eye the torture of Adams as he struggles to balance his personal devotion to his country (he was a strong Unionist) with his obligations and duties to his office. Looking at war as a possibility between the two sides of the Union, he concludes in his diary: "It seems to me that its result [that of war] might be the extirpation of slavery from this whole continent; and, calamitous and desolating as this course of events in its progress must be, so glorious would be its final issue, that, as God shall judge me, I dare not say that it is not to be desired."

Much more than just a chronological narration of events, Miller weaves in background of the events and personalities in order to make his subject come alive. Arguing About Slavery is a book outside the mainstream of standard Civil War book fare, but a must if you have any desire to understand the people, events, and stories that led to the great conflict beginning in 1861.

It's shocking to discover how much of real American history gets glossed over in schools. What's the point of teaching history at all if it's edited? At that point it might as well be folk tales, interesting stories lacking any real facts. Alexs Pate's version of the events surrounding the slave ship La Amistad are easy to follow thanks to his simple, direct writing style and unique ability to describe much in a few words. While a "fictionalized" account of true events, the story is nonetheless riveting and heartwrenching, astounding and sickening to behold. I am saddened and even a little angry I have so little knowledge of how the vast majority of Africans found their way to America and the truth of how my ancestors may have considered and treated them. The author does a fine job of remaining mostly neutral on the topic himself, letting the story unfold and almost tell itself. While some Africans had it a little better than others, during pre-Civil War days and even in some cases still today, no black man was ever truly free. Amistad is a brilliant book about suffering and the strength it may bring, about how hope may prevail under the direst of circumstances, about how mistakes can save lives and doing "the right thing" might end them. A quick, powerful read anyone of any color or belief may enjoy. An excellent book for anyone readying to delve into the truth of the past instead of blandly accepting some outdated school textbook of it. Masterpiece.

This was a great book. i had to read it for a book report. To tell you the truth I hate reading. This is the first time I read the whole book for a book report, it had me hooked. Now I get to see the movie. But, I understood the wording in the book, and It's just a good book the read. And I recommend it for all age groups.

There is not even close to enough words to discibe this novel by Alexs Pate which is based on the motion picture. The movie I thought was great. Take my word for it the book "Amistad", brings you into even more detail than the movie. I have read a lot of books, but this book really grabbed me into really feeling like I was there. It is a sensational and emotional book that will touch your heart and show you exactly what slavery was really like. How humans went through with this unhuman way to treat people. Filled with action and emotion this is one book that has it all.