The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics

“A vivid and convincing account of one of the most significant—but too often overlooked—figures in our history.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion

Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as an aloof intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from defeat in 1828’s presidential election to lead the ...