Louisa ThomasResenhas

an interesting look at an overlooked figure. Lots of first hand information from a pivotal time in american history.

Louisa Thomas wrote a remarkable, insightful biography of the less studied Mrs. Adams. It was a joy to read and thoroughly researched.

This was an extraordinary look at the life of one of the most underrated US First Ladies. Louisa Adams was the first foreign born woman to become First Lady. This book chronicles her extraordinary story from her birth in England through her husband's various diplomatic posts in Prussia, St. Petersburg, and London, to her eventual residence at The White House, "a half-finished barn" as she called it.

The book reads almost like a novel. We are fortunate to have a large amount of Louisa's journals and letters as source material. Her volumes have even been published in their own right. And Louisa's life is one well worth taking a close look at. It was extremely interesting to read of her courtship and the early days of her marriage. I wouldn't say she and her husband were particularly well-matched, but they made it work. And her travels through Europe during tumultuous times was nothing short of heroic.

I'm taking away half a star in my review because of (to my mind) one failing: an appalling lack of pictures. Indeed, there is only one photo of Louisa that is shown to us at the very beginning of the book. That being said, I believe this has been my favorite book to read this year. It's got everything: adventure, romance, travel, politics, and even some poetry.

Very highly recommended!½

I would just like to thank Louisa Thomas for compiling the life of Louisa Adams, diplomatic former POTUS’s wife extraordinaire and giving my blog a new name “The Adventures of a Nobody”. I can’t believe how much I related to a woman from the 1700s.

Its crazy how little the school system focuses on female historical figures. You would think they could add a little blip about them especially when they are so crucial for their husband’s successes. What I learned from this biography was that if it weren’t for Mrs. Adams being so likable, unlikable President Adams would not have won his title. And of course a few other tidbits of information that I would never have learned.

Louisa Adams was a reluctant feminist before feminism was even a thing something I related to so badly. But if there were more women that could have taken her under their wing them I certain she would have accepted it as much as I have.½

3.5

A well written and documented biography of Louisa Adams, the wife of president John Quincy Adams. This was not an easy life as she must deal with her father's bankruptcy, separation from family, loss of children and her struggle with ambitious feelings in a time when women were dominated by men. The book is made possible through diaries written by many of the principals and a vast quantity of letters saved for posterity. The book gives us a deep incite into this very complex woman.

The author spent five years researching and writing this book on Louisa Catherine Adams, the wife of the sixth U.S. President, John Quincy Adams.

In “The Wall Street Journal” Book Section on April 15, 2016, Jane Kamensky reviews a new book on Abigail Adams, observing: “If you can name one woman from the era of the American Revolution, it’s likely Abigail Adams.”

Louisa Adams, as limned by Louisa Thomas, sounds every bit as remarkable as Abigail - maybe more so - and yet there has not been much written about her. From this story, it is clear we have missed out knowing this inspirational woman and First Lady.

Louisa first encountered John Quincy Adams (JQA) when she was 20 and he 28. They met in London, where Louisa was born in 1775. She lived in momentous times, not only because of the events that ensued in the United States, but because of the growing number of debates over rights for women and blacks. (Louisa died in 1852, on the brink of another American cataclysm.)

JQA sounds like a curmudgeonly husband at best, but it had to be "difficult" for a man of his time to have a wife so intelligent and outspoken as Louisa. His mother, Abigail, was certainly intelligent, but was not only much more genteel in manner, but more accepting of women’s “secondary” role. Louisa was neither one.

Louisa was exceedingly well-read, both for her own time and any time: she read Plutarch, Milton, Pope, Dryden, Shakespeare, Dickens; Voltaire and Molière in French; radical feminists of the time (urging her son Charles to read Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman); newspapers, literary journals, novels, travelogues, histories; and the Bible, to which she increasingly turned as she aged. In addition to all this, she kept diaries, wrote two autobiographies, and sent frequent letters to her children, and to her in-laws, John and Abigail Adams, informing them of developments on the political scene. (John Adams later wrote to her, “Your journal is a kind of necessary of life to me. I long for it the whole week.”)

When JQA ran for president, this was at a time when it was still frowned upon for a candidate to campaign himself [would that those times still obtained!]. Moreover, JQA was of the mind that people should just know that he was the superior intellect and therefore vote for him. Louisa had a much more realistic view of how the political process operated. Exasperated that JQA couldn’t even bothered to be civil to would-be supporters, she took up the mantle herself: entertaining, cajoling, making the case for her husband’s worthiness, and passing on information to him from political actors.

Louisa’s position on women’s rights were complicated. In that era, the pressures to be “ladylike” were intense, and Louisa felt them keenly. Yet she also was frequently angry over the subjugation of women, writing to her husband (they were frequently separated):

“That sense of inferiority which by nature and by law we are compelled to feel, and to which we must submit, is worn by us with as much satisfaction as the badge of slavery generally….”

As for slavery, she was even more conflicted. Her family, to whom she was extremely loyal, owned slaves. And while Louisa felt that the principles of Christianity militated against the system of slavery, she harbored a deep racism toward blacks. She also resented the dangers to her husband when he took up the cause of slavery (he received a number of death threats), wishing that he would leave well enough alone, or let God take care of it, or indeed, anyone else but her husband. At that time, however, unfortunately there was hardly anyone else with the courage to take on the subject.

Although she and JQA remained married over fifty years, their marriage was certainly not of the quality that John and Abigail Adams had. Often Louisa resented JQA, and he frequently felt annoyed with her. Yet there had also been, the author finds, “moments of real tenderness, companionship, support, and joy.”

Discussion: The author took great pains to make this book about Louisa rather than about John Quincy, and I think she does a very good job in that respect. Nevertheless, Louisa’s story cannot really be told outside of the story of her husband. Thus, while I think I understand why the author chose not to include pictures of John Quincy, it still would have been nice to have a few included, as well as more than one of Louisa.

While I don’t usually opt to read biographies, preferring a broader glimpse at the sociopolitical context of any historical era, the roles played by the extended Adams family in American history in many senses does provide just that.

Louisa Thomas has done a great service by researching the life of a woman whose role in American history has too long gone unrecognized. As the wife of a man who was a Minister to the Great Britain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. President, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, her story is as interesting and amazing as John Quincy’s own - in some ways even more, because she was a woman who often had to act on her own and in her husband’s stead.

Evaluation: This is an excellent and illuminating look at a woman’s life well worth contemplating, in the process shedding a great deal of light on American political life in antebellum times via the astute observations of Louisa Adams. Students of early American history and of the history of women’s role in America will find this book most gratifying.

I very much enjoyed this highly readable biography of Louisa Adams. Louisa Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams. The two met in London where Louisa's American father had settled and started a family with a British woman. John Quincy Adams was moving around to various European diplomatic positions. His parents were not excited about the match, thinking Louisa not "american" enough with her British mother and upbringing. Also, Louisa's life was viewed as too easy to prepare her for the realities of being an American wife and mother with expectations of hard work and running the family. John and Louisa got married anyway and began married life at the Prussian Court. John Quincy Adams' work would also take them to Russia during the Napoleonic wars and Louisa had a dramatic lone journey from St. Petersburg to Paris during Napoleon's escape from exile and return to France (this was my favorite part of the book). Later, Louisa would navigate Washington society and help pave her husband's way to the White House.

Throughout the book, Louisa is portrayed by herself and others as weak and ill and needing to be taken care of, but time after time when push comes to shove she rises to the occasion and handles danger and tragedy with skill and grace. Louisa didn't have a remarkable life on her own, she mainly followed in her husband's footsteps, but the book is interesting nonetheless for its portrayal of this woman's varied life experience, an intimate look at a marriage, and for its discovery of historical events through Louisa's life experience. And Louisa was certainly an intelligent accomplished woman who did a lot of writing on her own (journals, letters, and memoirs).

[[Thomas]] succeeds in keeping the focus unvaryingly on Louisa Adams, no small feat with a husband who was President and in-laws like John and Abigail Adams. I was really impressed that the book was so interesting and kept my attention despite the fact that Louisa wasn't a radical thinker or trailblazer.

I think this is a biography that both people who have an interest in early American history and people who enjoy biographies about women would enjoy. I would give this 5 stars for readability and 4 for content, so 4.5 it is!½

Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas is first and foremost Louisa Adams' personal story. The writing style is part story with almost a diary-like feel with many personal details. At the same time, this book is all history chronicled with quotes, document excerpts, names, and dates. As a casual, non-academic reader, I find the level of detail a little overwhelming, but I learn a lot about that time in history.

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/03/louisa-extraordinary-life-of-mrs-adams.....

Reviewed for the Penguin First to Read program.

Very interesting book on the First World War. Not your garden variety historiography. The author, Louisa Thomas, is writing about her great-grandfather and his three brother during the Great War. Two brothers join the military (Arthur and Ralph); the other two Norman and Evan are conscience objectors. The book is based on the letters and documents left by the brother as well as public records of their activities. This is no ordinary family. They are socially and politically connected. They have access to President Wilson and other national leaders. As the story unfolds, this does not appear to provide them with a great deal of assistance during their various challenges and activities.

This book provides a great deal of insight into the social issues and efforts by activists to change society. The descriptions of the treatment which the COs received publically, by the military establishment, and in confinement I found very enlightening and disturbing. Many of these facts probably never came to light during the period of WWI.

Also covered is the feeling in the United States regarding WWI and consideration into America's possible involvement. The war according to this work was not as popular as may be supposed. President Wilson is shown in the light of a Liberal, but also a politician seeking to achieve his agenda and also gain reelection;"looking the other way" when necessary.

Good book, well written; presents a different weave on the conditions in the US socially, politically and economically prior to and after the US entry into the war. Starts a bit slow outling some family hlistory and background for the Thomas family. Stay with it and you will be rewarded with an interesting read.

The wife of John Quincy Adams½