John Quincy Adams

Praise

“A historian delves into letters and diary entries to craft this thorough biography of the sixth president of the United States, from the Enlightenment education imparted on him by his father to his contribution to the Monroe Doctrine for U.S. policy abroad.”
—The New York Times

“Randall Woods gives us a thorough and appropriately cerebral account of Adams—a man who performed his share of portentous deeds…. Mr. Woods doesn’t write tales of heroes—even flawed ones—and villains. Instead he portrays human beings: men like Adams, who, despite personal shortcomings, stood up under adversity for important principles when it counted most.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“John Quincy Adams gives the sixth president’s life the sweep and scope it deserves.”
—Associated Press

“Through wonderful prose and a deft blend of primary sources, Woods captures the complexities of John Quincy Adams’ sense of purpose and ego, his naked ambition alongside his patriotic need to serve, and his sincere devotion to God’s providence interwoven with his self-importance. It makes for great, and inspirational, reading.”
—Law & Liberty

“Woods writes with great authority… He has enormous admiration for his subject.”
—The New York Sun

“Informative, entertaining, and insightful… This magisterial biography rightly places John Quincy Adams at the forefront of great American statesmen.”
—The New York Journal of Books

“This splendid biography is a genuine Life and Times story of a remarkable American who served his country for more than a half century as diplomat, senator, secretary of state, president, public intellectual, and in a unique post-presidential career as gadfly of the slave power in Congress.  Randall Woods skillfully interweaves the narrative of these events with intimate accounts of Adams’ personal and family life in a warmly human manner.”
—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

“Randall Woods’ John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People is a real treasure. Stretching from the American Revolution to the Mexican-American War, Woods provides a fascinating portrait of John Quincy Adams—a man known for his presidency and later abolitionism but little known for his romantic temperament and sociability. Woods’ true passion for John Quincy comes through in his selected anecdotes and eloquent descriptions, articulating a comprehensive image of the life of the sixth president. From narrating his studies at Harvard to his uphill fight against the gag rule, Woods highlights John Quincy in a new light, one that underscores his relatability to, connectivity with, and importance in the present moment. Woods’ volume is an insightful read and a tour de force.”
—Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer Prize winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

“Beautifully written biographies are rare gems, and Randall Woods’s John Quincy Adams is truly one of the most exquisite. In this contemporary moment when our democracy feels so fragile, and when the question of what defines us a nation—what will make us the most egalitarian, the most just—feels so pressing, this vibrant and rich look at the life of a man who was at the very center of an earlier so-similar moment in our nation’s past is sobering, hopeful, and needed.”
—Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy

“Masterly and magisterial, a compelling, complex, deeply researched and engagingly-written modern biography of John Quincy Adams that brings to life not only an American political dynasty but also a time and a world at the vital moment of the creation of American state and power.”
—Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author of The World: A Family History of Humanity

“Long hidden behind a mask of his own making, America’s sixth president John Quincy Adams emerges in Randall Woods’s masterful biography as privately passionate, obsessed with the presidency, and eager to honor his founding father and to meet the high expectancy of his demanding mother. A master of diplomacy, a disaster at popular politics, Quincy Adams devotes a long public life to upholding the principles of the Declaration of Independence while struggling with the contradictions of the Constitution. This tell-all, intimate portrait of a president and his family provides a deeply-researched, insightful panorama of the early nation for readers curious about the origins of American politics.”
—Willard Sterne Randall, author of The Founders’ Fortunes

“Intensively readable… A tremendous history lesson through the life of this insuppressible voice for liberty and justice.”
—Kirkus, starred review