Synopses & Reviews
A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adamss destiny was foreordained. He was not only “The Greatest Traveler of His Age,” but his countrys most gifted linguist and most experienced diplomat. John Quincys world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. As his diplomat fathers adolescent clerk and secretary, he met everyone who was anyone in Europe, including Americas own luminaries and founding fathers, Franklin and Jefferson. All this made coming back to America a great challenge. But though he was determined to make his own career he was soon embarked, at Washingtons appointment, on his phenomenal work aboard, as well as on a deeply troubled though loving and enduring marriage. But through all the emotional turmoil, he dedicated his life to serving his country. At 50, he returned to America to serve as Secretary of State to President Monroe. He was inaugurated President in 1824, after which he served as a stirring defender of the slaves of the Amistad rebellion and as a member of the House of Representatives from 1831 until his death in 1848. In The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams, Phyllis Lee Levin provides the deeply researched and beautifully written definitive biography of one of the most fascinating and towering early Americans.
Review
Praise for ABIGAIL ADAMS
“After 200 years, thanks to Ms. Levin, Abigail Adams can speak her mind to what will surely be a large audience.” —The New York Times
“A compelling book… a close and believable portrait of the woman within." —The Washington Post
Praise for EDITH AND WOODROW
"I am particularly taken with Phyllis Lee Levin's Edith and Woodrow. It is a brilliantly written, scrupulously researched reassessment of the role Edith Bolling Wilson played in the waning years of the Wilson presidency." —Errol Morris, The New York Times "An extraordinary achievement." —Gaddis Smith, professor emeritus, Yale University, and author of The Last Years of the Monroe Doctrine
Review
"Phyllis Lee Levins The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams is a brilliant look at a major American figure of continuing interest. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Ms. Levins important new book makes exceptional use of Adams unexpurgated diaries to underscore the humanity of this misunderstood figure, 'Old Man Eloquent,' and adds necessary nuance to his undeservedly harsh reputation."—Paul LeClerc, President Emeritus, New York Public Library
Review
“An intimate, richly detailed portrait of a powerful political figure.”—Kirkus
"Phyllis Lee Levins The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams is a brilliant look at a major American figure of continuing interest. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Ms. Levins important new book makes exceptional use of Adams unexpurgated diaries to underscore the humanity of this misunderstood figure, 'Old Man Eloquent,' and adds necessary nuance to his undeservedly harsh reputation."—Paul LeClerc, President Emeritus, New York Public Library
“John Quincy Adams, long overshadowed by his celebrated father, comes fully into his own in this luminous account of his extraordinary education—as a boy in Revolutionary Massachusetts and the courts of Europe, a youth at Harvard College, a brilliant young diplomat, and a failure in his first outings as a politician. A shrewd observer of American political history and a perceptive student of human nature, Phyllis Lee Levin has taken the measure of the private as well as the public life of her subject, and the result is the warmest, most elegant, most knowing portrait of John Quincy Adams we have ever had.”—Patricia OToole, author of The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends and When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt “Balanced, compelling, and wise. Levin brings Louisa Catherine Adams, Adamss troubled wife, into the center of the picture, where she belongs, and the author is shrewd about family dynamics.” -Publisher's Weekly
Synopsis
A compelling look at our sixth president, the first biography to look closely at JQs international life and at his complicated and troubled marriage
About the Author
Phyllis Lee Levin is the author of several books including Abigail Adams and Edith and Woodrow . She has been a reporter, editor, and columnist for The New York Times and lives in Manhattan.