The Problem of Democracy

The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality

By: Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

"Told with authority and style. . . Crisply summarizing the Adamses' legacy, the authors stress principle over partisanship."--The Wall Street Journal

How the father and son presidents foresaw the rise of the cult of personality and fought those who sought to abuse the weaknesses inherent in our democracy, from the New York Times bestselling author of White Trash.

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.

Good Account, Clear Bias

This is a decent account of historical events and it is certainly thorough, if not biased in approach. To their credit, the authors make that plain when they both open and close the book. Their stated intent is to re-examine the two Presidents and try to make the case that they were not as “distant” of figures as other historians have portrayed. All in all, a decent book, but would recommend balancing this with other accounts as well.

Limited horizon

The book concentrated on the presidencies of father and son, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. While the authors have a lofty aim, the vehicle is of limited interest.

Good book... worth listening to thrice....

All in all I enjoyed listening to this book. The Adams are probably watching as America falls to their prophetic utterances.

Many Threads

At first I was discouraged with the multiple threads and the hopping back-and-forth comparing the two Adamses, father and son, their youths, their educational background, the intensity and propensity of voracious reading, their extensive years of travel in service to their country and ideals, and all of the other myriad things that comprise their individual contexts.

About halfway, though, it all started to focus and built and built until it had me thoroughly engaged.

Don't give up; it's worth it.

Very insightful and rewarding adding understanding

To our current Trumpian nightmare. We need an Adams to help set our republic back on course.