The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality

Historians Isenberg and Burstein (Madison and Jefferson) reteam to provide a densely packed double-decker reassessment of the lives and political foresight of father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The time period ranges from John’s pre-Revolutionary life as a farmer and lawyer to John Quincy’s postpresidential stint as a House representative from Massachusetts starting in 1830; in between, the authors revisit key episodes from both lives that highlight the Adamses’ nonconformist ways as a staunch warning against the ills of the partisanship, corruption, and personality politics that are rampant today. The authors point out parallels between the lives of their subjects, ranging from their long, successful marriages to the fact that a Hamilton played an instrumental role in both Adamses’ losses of their reelection bids. Isenberg and Burstein provide an acute evaluation of the Adamses’ intellectual development, and they have a knack for making prescient observations, such as John Adams’s warning that candidates with “the deepest purse, or the fewest scruples will generally prevail.” Analysis occasionally supersedes narrative, which can make this weighty analysis heavy lifting even for an interested reader. Readers fond of more traditional biographical treatments may want to pass on this one. Agent: Geri Thoma, Writers House. (Apr.)