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John Quincy Adams cover art

John Quincy Adams

Written by: Harlow Giles Unger
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
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Publisher's Summary

He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president.

John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years and one of the most courageous figures in American history - which is why he ranked first in John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Profiles in Courage.

A magisterial biography and a sweeping panorama of American history from the Washington to Lincoln eras, Unger’s John Quincy Adams follows one of America’s most important yet least known figures.

Harlow Giles Unger, a former distinguished visiting fellow in American history at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, educator, and historian. He is the author of 20 books, including several biographies of America’s Founding Fathers. He has also authored histories of the early Republic as well as numerous books on American education. He lives in New York.

©2012 Harlow Giles Unger (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What the critics say

"[Unger] eloquently details the diplomatic headaches caused by both the infamous XYZ Affair and ever-changing Gallic governments. Spare prose clarifies the overview of political complications and intricate family dynamics, revealing Adams as a historically overlooked yet key transitional figure who witnessed the birth of the nation and endured its nearly irreparable geographic squabbles of the 1840s." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A neglected president receives his due as a statesman and practical politician.… A fine examination of a life, well deserving a place alongside David McCullough’s study of Adams père." ( Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about John Quincy Adams

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