John Quincy Adams

Brookhiser could have more effectively focused on a central overall concept that tied together the lives of John Adams, John Quincy, Charles Francis, and Henry Adams.

As unlikely a modern hero as John Adams, John Quincy recently had his moment of celebrity with the simultaneous appearance of a critically acclaimed biography by Paul Nagel and a starring role in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad.

As the son of John and Abigail Adams, John Quincy carried a sense of his own inescapable destiny.