America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918 - Hardcover

Brookhiser, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684868814 ISBN 13: 9780684868813

Publisher: Free Press, 2002

Synopsis

An extraordinary portrait of the Adamses, American's first political dynasty whose influence spanned four generations, details their prominent involvement in politics, journalism, and literature, and their determination to achieve success, no matter what the cost. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

In the spirit of his earlier books, Alexander Hamilton: American and Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, Richard Brookhiser produces an elegant, concise volume drawing on previous scholarship but offering a fresh perspective on four prickly generations of Adamses. Until David McCullough's John Adams became a surprise bestseller, the United States' second president and his descendants seldom had good press. Acknowledging John's essential role in the American Revolution and his son John Quincy's principled fight against slavery, contemporaries and historians nonetheless judged both men poor presidents, characterized by haughty pride and stiff-necked dislike of compromise. Charles Francis Adams, John Quincy's son, lost an almost certain chance to run for president as a Republican in 1872 by disdainfully announcing "that he would reject any nomination that had to be negotiated for;" the most famous book by Charles's son, The Education of Henry Adams (1907), implicitly blames Henry's failure to achieve the prominence of his forefathers on the loss of meaning and coherence in the modern, fragmented world. Tracing the lives and careers of these four men, Brookhiser strikes a balance between their struggles with a daunting heritage and battles with the often unappreciative outer world, identifying "the constant companion of the Adamses" as "the idea of greatness. Am I as great as my ancestors? As great as my contemporaries? Why doesn't the world recognize my greatness?" This proves a sensible organizing principle for his graceful reappraisal of a well-known but not often well-understood family. --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Richard Brookhiser is the author of Alexander Hamilton, American (1999), Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1995), and The Way of the WASP (1991), all published by The Free Press. He is a Senior Editor at The National Review and a New York Observer columnist. He contributes to such publications as American Heritage and The New York Times. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0684868814
• ISBN 13: 9780684868813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256