Brett
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John Quincy Adams
- Militant Spirit
- By: James Traub
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 25 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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John Quincy Adams was the last of his kind - a Puritan from the age of the Founders who despised party and compromise yet dedicated himself to politics and government. The son of John Adams, he was a brilliant ambassador and secretary of state, a frustrated president at a historic turning point in American politics, and a dedicated congressman who literally died in office - at the age of 80, in the House of Representatives, in the midst of an impassioned political debate.
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Best narrator of all the audio books I've listened
- By grimm79 on 12-12-17
- John Quincy Adams
- Militant Spirit
- By: James Traub
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Average President, Stellar Congressman
Reviewed: 12-16-17
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes, but hesitantly. Adams is one of the most interesting presidents - not because of his presidency itself, which was quite average, but his entire pre- and post-presidency careers. The years in ministerial work and then all his years in Congress are unique among the presidents, and they SHOULD make for an excellent biography. But this is the first such biography I've encountered, and it fell a bit short. However, Adams is still a very interesting person to read about, and so I would still recommend this book. At least until I find a more engaging JQA biography.
What could James Traub have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Traub's writing had a tendency to stray into long stretches of dryness. It's a very common problem I've found with books on history, especially biographies. I mean, not everyone can be David McCullough or H.W. Brands. There's nothing outright bad about his writing - it was just that there are times where it feels like even he isn't engaged in the topic, and is merely relating a series of facts in order to get to the next interesting section. And in those sections, his writing got much better, with more of a storytelling flair.
Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Yes, although I can't immediately remember which book it was (I fly through these audiobooks like crazy so sometimes the details blur together). This one wasn't nearly as good. He conveyed the story effectively and there weren't any major problems, but it seemed a bit flat a majority of the time. Of course, with biographies and other historical books, there isn't a whole lot that a narrator NEEDS to do beyond simply reading the book, but a lot of the time it felt less like a book and more like a lecture. I don't know how much of that is due to Traub's writing versus Gardner's reading.
Was John Quincy Adams worth the listening time?
Yes. Minor complaints aside, JQA is still a very interesting character who spent his entire 80 years in the midst of important events. From his birth in the early days of the beginning of revolutionary spirit in Massachusetts, to his death in Congress during the heating up of the slavery debate, there are no periods of his life where nothing happened worth writing or reading about.
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2 people found this helpful
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The President and the Assassin
- McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century.
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An Ideal History Book for the Audio Format
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-30-11
- The President and the Assassin
- McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
Very Enlightening
Reviewed: 10-23-17
I’ve been a “presidents nerd” for as long as I can remember. There have been millions of pages written about the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations, but very few about McKinley (and Garfield). This book did an amazing job of covering the life stories of both McKinley and his assassin, as well as tying in everything that was going on in turn-of-the-century America; to the point that even as an amateur historian, I learned a lot from this book that I never knew before.
Plus I finally learned how to pronounce “Czolgosz”
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