American Phoenix
John Quincy and Louisa Adams, the War of 1812, and the Exile That Saved American Independence
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Narrated by:
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Kate Wisniewski
About this listen
John Quincy and Louisa Adams’s unexpected journey that changed everything.
American Phoenix is the sweeping, riveting tale of a grand historic adventure across forbidding oceans and frozen tundra—from the bustling ports and towering birches of Boston to the remote reaches of pre-Soviet Russia, from an exile in arctic St. Petersburg to resurrection and reunion among the gardens of Paris. Upon these varied landscapes this Adams and his Eve must find a way to transform their banishment into America’s salvation.
Author, historian, and national media commentator Jane Hampton Cook breathes life into once-obscure history, weaving a meticulously researched biographical tapestry that comes across like a gripping novel. With the arc and intrigue of Shakespearean drama in a Jane Austen era, American Phoenix is a timely yet timeless addition to the recent renaissance of works on the founding Adams family, from patriarchs John and Abigail to the second-generation of John Quincy and Louisa and beyond.
Cook has crafted not only a riveting narrative but also an easy-to-understand history filled with fly-on-the-wall vignettes from 1812 and its hardscrabble, freedom-hungry people. While unveiling vivid portrayals of each character—a colorful assortment of heroes and villains, patriots and pirates, rogues and rabble-rousers—she paints equally fresh, intimate portraits of both John Quincy and Louisa Adams. Cook artfully reveals John Quincy’s devastation after losing the job of his dreams, battle for America’s need to thrive economically, and sojourn to secure his homeland’s survival as a sovereign nation. She reserves her most detailed brushstrokes for the inner struggles of Louisa, using this quietly inspirational woman’s own words to amplify her fears, faith, and fortitude along a deeply personal, often heart-rending journey. Cook’s close-up perspective shows how this American couple’s Russian destination changed US destiny.
©2013 Jane Hampton Cook (P)2023 Thomas NelsonListeners also enjoyed...
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An outstanding biography
- By Davis on 07-10-06
By: David McCullough
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The Loyal Son
- The War in Ben Franklin's House
- By: Daniel Mark Epstein
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ben Franklin is the most lovable of America's founding fathers. His wit, his charm, his inventiveness - even his grandfatherly appearance - are legendary. But this image obscures the scandals that dogged him throughout his life. In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the more enigmatic aspects of Franklin's biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son, William.
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Gripping Narrative
- By Jean on 08-07-17
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The Daughters of Yalta
- The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War
- By: Catherine Grace Katz
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days.
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Engaging
- By Jean on 06-19-21
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Martha Washington
- An American Life
- By: Patricia Brady
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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With this revelatory and painstakingly researched book, Martha Washington, the invisible woman of American history, at last gets the biography she deserves. In place of the domestic frump of popular imagination, Patricia Brady resurrects the wealthy, attractive, and vivacious young widow who captivated the youthful George Washington. And even as it brings Martha Washington into sharper and more accurate focus, this sterling life sheds light on her marriage, her society, and the precedents she established for future First Ladies.
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DAR Book Club
- By Kimberly Dillard on 12-26-23
By: Patricia Brady
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You Never Forget Your First
- A Biography of George Washington
- By: Alexis Coe
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Alexis Coe
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Young George Washington was raised by a struggling single mother, demanded military promotions, caused an international incident, and never backed down - even when his dysentery got so bad he had to ride with a cushion on his saddle. But after he married Martha, everything changed. With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have listeners - including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads - inhaling every word.
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You Never Forget Your Worst
- By Wm Cole on 02-27-20
By: Alexis Coe
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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister
- Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through 100 years of wars, revolutions, and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak.
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Fascinating reading
- By David L. Jones on 03-26-20
By: Jung Chang
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Founding Mothers
- The Women Who Raised Our Nation
- By: Cokie Roberts
- Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged
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Cokie returns with Founding Mothers, an intimate look at the passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families and country proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it.
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Founding Mothers
- By Carol Roath on 05-31-04
By: Cokie Roberts
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Victoria
- A Life
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The longest reigning British monarch and female sovereign in history, Queen Victoria was a figure of profound paradox who has mystified historians for over a century. Now in this magisterial biography, A.N. Wilson rebukes the conventional wisdom about her life - that she was merely a "funny little woman in a bonnet" who did next to nothing - to show she was in fact intensely involved in state affairs despite a public façade of inaction.
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This book has old and new info
- By Dr. A. on 10-29-14
By: A. N. Wilson
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Josephine
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: S. Patricia Bailey
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Josephine's life story was as turbulent as the age, an era of revolution and social upheaval, of the guillotine and of frenzied hedonism. With telling psychological depth and compelling literary grace, Carolly Erickson brings the complex, charming, ever resilient Josephine to life in this memorable portrait, one that carries the reader from the sensual richness of her childhood in the tropics to her final lonely days at Malmaison.
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Engaging
- By DPM on 03-07-08
By: Carolly Erickson
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James Monroe
- A Life
- By: Tim McGrath
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The extraordinary life of James Monroe: Soldier, senator, diplomat, and the last Founding Father to hold the presidency, a man who helped transform 13 colonies into a vibrant and mighty republic.
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Large and inconsistent, much like Monroe himself.
- By Kindle Customer on 01-31-21
By: Tim McGrath
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A Perfect Union
- Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation
- By: Catherine Allgor
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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An extraordinary American comes to life in this vivid, incisive portrait of the early days of the republic—and the birth of modern politics hen the roar of the Revolution had finally died down, a new generation of American politicians was summoned to the Potomac to assemble the nation's newly minted capital. Into that unsteady atmosphere which would soon enough erupt into another conflict with Britain in 1812, Dolley Madison arrived, alongside her husband James.
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A great first lady!
- By Anna Walker on 04-04-11
By: Catherine Allgor