The Lost Founding Father

In this illuminating new look at John Quincy Adams, the distinguished historian William J. Cooper gives us a vivid and convincing account of one of the most significant-but too often overlooked-figures in our history. Long obscured by the towering shadow of his father's generation on one side and by Andrew Jackson on the other, our sixth president merits more study and credit. In these pages, Cooper gives him both. -- Jon Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power There is a certain urgency to new studies of presidents of the republic. William Cooper's well-crafted life of John Quincy Adams, a learned and well-trained president with a conscience touching the moral questions of his day, admirably fits that bill. -- William McFeely, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Grant: A Biography John Quincy Adams was a world traveler and full-throated nationalist, primed from youth for a life in politics. His path to success was marred by a cold, forbidding character that he could not shake. The Lost Founding Father is as nimble and inviting to readers as its subject was dense and ill-disposed to company. -- Andrew Burstein, author of Jefferson's Secrets and The Passions of Andrew Jackson As he did in his prize-winning biography of Jefferson Davis, William J. Cooper here brilliantly balances a perceptive portrait of John Quincy Adams's personal life and character...with an astute and compelling analysis of his decades-long public career. The result is another first-class performance. -- Michael Holt, author of The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party Cooper's balanced, well-sourced, and accessible work focuses on a rarely examined yet pivotal period in American history. -- Publisher's Weekly