AMERICAN PHOENIX: JOHN QUINCY AND LOUISA ADAMS, THE WAR OF 1812, AND THE EXILE THAT SAVED AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE by Jane Hampton Cook
American Phoenix: John Quincy and Louisa Adams, the War of 1812, and the Exile that Saved American Independence by Jane Hampton Cook
Those crucial years surrounding the United States' lesser-known War of 1812 with England and the far-flung menace of France's Napoleon Bonaparte frame American Phoenix, the engrossing saga of John Quincy and Louisa Adams's sacrifices for their nascent nation and the cause of liberty. Author Jane Hampton Cook transports readers into ships' crude cabins, bumpy horse-drawn coaches, opulent imperial palaces, and the unplowed corridors of post-Revolutionary power. As the epic unfolds through her concise journalistic pace, Cook
- brings to resounding life John Quincy and Louisa's complex relationship, through diaries, letters, and other original sources
- chronicles Adams's unlikely political resurrection through his "honorable exile" leading the first U.S. diplomatic post in pre-Soviet Russia.
- portrays a mother's agonizing struggle between duty to her husband and nation and devotion to the young children she must leave behind.
- captures behind-the-scenes details from young America's stumbling transformation from a nation-in-name-only to an emerging world power.
- spotlights John Quincy's quest to see his beloved country achieve honor, dignity, respect, and recognition from other nations of the world.
- explores the crucial political dynamics of two continents and multiple countries on the brink of war.
- sheds new light on both Adamses' brushes with the audacious Napoleon Bonaparte.
American Phoenix honors the ordinary heroes of a pivotal epoch in U.S. history simply by telling their compelling personal stories and chronicling the triumph that can result when anyone's life -- yours, mine, or theirs -- takes an unexpected journey that changes everything.
Thomas Nelson, Hardcover, 2013
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.