The problem of democracy the Presidents Adams confront the cult of personality
John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for...
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| Format: | Audiobooks eAudiobook Downloads eAudiobook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Penguin Audio,
2019.
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| Edition: | Unabridged. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Go to Downloadable Audiobook Here. |
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| Summary: | John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for results; and they made it clear that they were talking about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. When John Adams succeeded George Washington as President, his son had already followed him into public service and was stationed in Europe as a diplomat. Though they spent many years apart -- and as their careers spanned Europe, Washington DC, and their family home south of Boston -- they maintained a close bond through extensive letter writing, debating history, political philosophy, and partisan maneuvering. The problem of democracy is an urgent problem; the father-and-son presidents grasped the perilous psychology of politics and forecast what future generations would have to contend with: citizens wanting heroes to worship and covetous elites more than willing to mislead. Rejection at the polls, each after one term, does not prove that the presidents Adams had erroneous ideas. Intellectually, they were what we today call "independents," reluctant to commit blindly to an organized political party. No historian has attempted to dissect their intertwined lives as Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein do in these pages, and there is no better time than the present to learn from the American nation's most insightful malcontents. |
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| Item Description: | Unabridged. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (23 audio files) : digital |
| Playing Time: | 22:15:10 |
| Format: | Requires OverDrive Listen (file size: N/A KB) or OverDrive app (file size: 625946 KB). |
| ISBN: | 9781984842855 |
| Author Notes: | She is the author of Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America; Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr (winner of the 2008 Oklahoma Book Award for non-fiction); Madison and Jefferson, co-authored with Andrew Burstein, was named one of the top five non-fiction titles of 2010 by Kirkus; and White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, which is a 2016 New York Times Bestseller. She has been featured on C-SPAN2 "Book TV," and on various NPR programs. She and Andrew Burstein are regular contributors to Salon.com. (Bowker Author Biography) |
