The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams

A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adams’s destiny was foreordained. He was not only “The Greatest Traveler of His Age,” but a gifted linguist and diplomat. His world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. As an adolescent, he met everyone who was anyone in Europe, including America’s own luminaries, Franklin and Jefferson. Coming back to America he was determined to make his own career, but was soon embarked, at Washington’s appointment, on work aboard. 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 story of the intellectual development of one of the most fascinating and towering early Americans.

Phyllis Lee Levin is the author of several books including Abigail Adams and Edith and Woodrow. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she has been a reporter, editor, and columnist for The New York Times. As writer and editor at Vogue she wrote a profile of Patricia Nixon whom she interviewed at the White House. She lives in Manhattan.