“In the splendid The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams by Phyllis Lee Levin, you can picture [John Quincy Adams] the portly minister and the tall royal squinting into the winter sun reflecting off the Neva River…Levin's biography restores the countless details that humanize the sixth president.” —Bloomberg

“Heartfelt and distinguished...a study of the first half of John Quincy's life and times that's as concerned with the inner man as with his increasingly remarkable public achievements.” —The Washington Post

“…A richly detailed biography of sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams…Levin crafts an intimate portrait of a bookish, devoted young patriot who struggled to balance filial duties to doting parents, a troubled marriage to a wife whose own writings reveal her inner turmoil, and an ambitious career.” —Library Journal

“Levin makes the case that Adams was a man of extraordinary natural gifts, enhanced by diligent study, European travel, and contact with the greatest minds of his era, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin…Leading readers through JQA's early life almost day by day, The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams offers detail and intimacy.” —The Boston Globe

“…Levin offers wonderful insights into [John Quincy Adams's] career and character… an excellent examination of a portion of the life and public career of a true icon in U.S. diplomatic history.” —Booklist

“An intimate, richly detailed portrait of a powerful political figure.” —Kirkus

“Phyllis Lee Levin's The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams is a brilliant look at a major American figure of continuing interest. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Ms. Levin's important new book makes exceptional use of Adams' unexpurgated diaries to underscore the humanity of this misunderstood figure, 'Old Man Eloquent,' and adds necessary nuance to his undeservedly harsh reputation.” —Paul LeClerc, President Emeritus, New York Public Library

“John Quincy Adams, long overshadowed by his celebrated father, comes fully into his own in this luminous account of his extraordinary education--as a boy in Revolutionary Massachusetts and the courts of Europe, a youth at Harvard College, a brilliant young diplomat, and a failure in his first outings as a politician. A shrewd observer of American political history and a perceptive student of human nature, Phyllis Lee Levin has taken the measure of the private as well as the public life of her subject, and the result is the warmest, most elegant, most knowing portrait of John Quincy Adams we have ever had.” —Patricia O'Toole, author of The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends and When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt

“Balanced, compelling, and wise. Levin brings Louisa Catherine Adams, Adams's troubled wife, into the center of the picture, where she belongs, and the author is shrewd about family dynamics.” —Publisher's Weekly