A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adams's destiny was foreordained. He was not only "The Greatest Traveler of His Age," but his country's most gifted linguist and most experienced diplomat. John Quincy's world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. As his diplomat father's adolescent clerk and secretary, he met everyone who was anyone in Europe, including America's 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 Washington's appointment, on his phenomenal work abroad, 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.
John Quincy Adams - one of our earliest Presidents, raised by another President. He followed his own dictates and refused to bend to Party Pressure. And in an era when slavery was so common as to be seen as "acceptable to God", John Quincy (As he is referred to in this book to avoid confusion with his father, John Adams.) defended the slaves in the Amistad revolt. According to Phyllis Lee Levin, he was also prone to depression (as was his wife) and suffered greatly in the service of his newly-formed country.
I freely admit I knew nothing about Adams coming into this book. I was a poor history student in school (hated all the dates) and am just now making up for it as an adult, where I find it much more interesting where there are no tests involved :) His upbringing was singular for the time, as was the pressure he must have felt as the son of revolutionaries. The book certainly covers his strange education, but I made the mistake of believing it was ONLY about that. It is not - it covers the majority of his life, and what he learned from both official schooling, and those life lessons that everyone gets.
While I did learn quite a bit about Adams, by the final 1/3 of the book, I was ready to be done. It was a bit *too* thorough for me, and felt plodding in places. If I'm totally honest, it may actually have been closer to 1/2 of the book. I think quite a bit could have been edited to provide just as thorough a look at Adams, without feeling like wading through the actual sands of the hourglass.
In all, I remain glad I read the book - it was informative, and reasonably interesting. But for those out there like me, who enjoy history but don't need to read quite so many entries into one person's daily life, then this might *not* be the book for you.
