When President John Quincy Adams lost his reelection bid in 1828, he opted to withdraw from public life. But he became bored in retirement and returned to politics by winning election to the House of Representatives in 1830. Adams served in Congress until his death at the age of 80 in 1848.
Adams’s dramatic political life is deserving of a book that encompasses the significant political complexities of his career. Unfortunately, “America’s Founding Son” is not that book. Author Bob Crawford, bassist for the Americana band The Avett Brothers, makes an uneasy debut as a historian with a bewildering writing style that doesn’t fit the subject.
