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33 books about the presidential Adams family: Perkins’ Recommended Reads
Books about the Adams family of Massachusetts.
Get to know the infamous Adams family — of the American presidency, that is.
The Adams family gave us two Presidents, two First Ladies – and added exponentially to the embarrassment of historical riches of Massachusetts. In this list you will find biographies, memoirs, and historical accounts for readers of all ages. You will find many things that are familiar, and perhaps some that are new discoveries.
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.
Prepared by James Gleason
Deputy Director
Perkins Library
Abigail Adams: A Life
Woody Holton
Biography of America’s second First Lady by the award-winning author of Unruly Americans (DB 66397). Uses first-person accounts and Mrs. Adams’s letters to portray her political and business acumen, which enabled her to leave her female descendants funds in her will despite the law of coverture. 2009.
Download Abigail Adams: A Life, DB 71999
Abigail Adams
Susan Lee
A brief biography of the outspoken parson’s daughter who was to become the wife of the second President and mother of the sixth. For grades 3-6. 1977.
Download Abigail Adams, DB 12177
Adams: An American Dynasty
Francis Russell
Launched by founding father John and the inimitable Abigail, the Adams dynasty continued to include another President, Lincoln’s most trusted ambassador, a great historian, and many other distinguished scholars, business leaders, and writers. This volume tells the enthralling story of one of America’s greatest families. 2005.
Download Adams: An American Dynasty, DBM 1256
The Adams Chronicles: Four Generations of Greatness
Jack Shepherd
Examination of the achievements of the Adams family told largely in their own words from diaries and letters. Presented in coordination with the Public Broadcasting Service television series of the same title. Bestseller. 1976.
Download The Adams Chronicles: Four Generations of Greatness, DB 10121
Cannibals of the Heart: A Personal Biography of Louisa Catherine and John Quincy Adams
Jack Shepherd
While this work covers John Quincy’s public career as diplomat and Washington leader, the author is concerned primarily with the relationship between the cold, purposeful Adams and his kind, loving wife. Shepard recreates the couple’s life in foreign capitals and in Washington, and depicts how Quincy’s obsessive ambition for himself and his sons made victims of both of them and the bright Louisa, who struggled to assert her individuality. 1980.
Download Cannibals of the Heart, DB 92245
Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams
Lynne Withey
Portrait of the daughter of a Massachusetts minister who married a future president of the United States. Drawn from Abigail’s letters, this biography offers an intriguing look at the events of her time. Neither a radical feminist nor a staunch conservative, she played an important role in the early days of the new nation. 1981.
Download Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams, DB 19058
Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family
Paul C. Nagel
A private history of one of America’s most distinguished families presents new views of the Adamses as husbands and wives, parents and children, from 1735 to 1927. Covers the greats and near-greats as well as the spendthrifts, misfits, alcoholics, and neurotics. Nagel believes that the family’s need to excel destroyed many of its members and handicapped even those who did succeed. 1983.
Download Descent from Glory, DB 19101
The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography
Henry Adams
The 19th-century American historian wrote this partial autobiography in 1905. He described his early education as “18th-century” and found it inadequate preparation for dealing with the complex forces of modern life. 1946.
Download The Education of Henry Adams DB 22293
First Family: Abigail and John
Joseph J. Ellis
Author of His Excellency: George Washington (BR 15564) and Founding Brothers (BR 12931) analyzes the marriage of second American president John Adams and his wife Abigail. Uses the couple’s correspondence to portray a love affair–and a political team that led the country through uncertain post-Revolutionary War times. 2010.
Download Braille, First Family: Abigail and John, BR 19446
Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Gordon S. Wood
Jefferson and Adams came from extremely disparate backgrounds, but they forged a close relationship thanks to their work during the American Revolution. Discusses that friendship, the differences that later tore them apart, and their ultimate reconciliation. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
Download Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, DB 89581
Henry Adams
Ernest Samuels
Samuels has not only condensed his three-volume biography of Henry Adams, but he has also revised this one-volume version according to more recent research. Adams is portrayed as a privileged young man, born into Boston aristocracy; a writer, particularly of history and biography; an inveterate traveler; and a man of constant comment on the subject of politics from pre-Civil War years to World War I. 1989.
Download Henry Adams, DB 32791
Henry Adams and the Making of America
Garry Wills
Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary historian Wills reexamines the work and legacy of historian Henry Adams (1838-1918), a descendant of two American presidents. Depicts Adams’s extensive research of U.S. and European archives to produce a nine-volume portrait of the United States during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. 2005.
Download Henry Adams and the Making of America, DB 75256
Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson
Gore Vidal
Novelist and playwright reflects on the Founding Fathers’ attempts to shape a new government. Vidal cites historical documents to provide a human perspective of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams, including their personal styles and concerns, opinions of each other, and political feuds. Also examines the influences of Hamilton, Madison, and Franklin. 2003.
Download Braille, Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, BR 15557
John Adams
Page Smith
Biography of John Adams (1735-1826), American patriot and second President of the United States. Covers the ninety-year life of this accomplished man from his birth in New England through his marriage to Abigail Adams, his activities during the American Revolution, his election to the Presidency, and his final days when he lived to see his son, John Quincy, elected sixth President of the United States. 1980.
John Adams, 2nd President of the United States
Rebecca Stefoff
John Adams was born in 1735 in Massachusetts, the eldest of three sons. His father was a deacon in the local Congregational Church and John had a strict, Puritan upbringing. As a young lawyer, he became involved in the fight for American independence. He would later serve as the first ambassador to Great Britain and as president. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 1988.
Download John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, DB 30102
Download Braille, John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, BR 7993
John Adams
David G. McCullough
Award-winning author chronicles the life and times of America’s second president, New Englander John Adams (1735-1826). Examines his pivotal role as revolutionary, diplomat, and politician as well as his friendship–and rivalry–with Thomas Jefferson. Primary sources detail his relationship with his wife, Abigail, four children, and notable contemporaries. Pulitzer Prize winner. Bestseller. 2001.
Download Braille, John Adams, BR 13426
John Quincy Adams
Harlow G. Unger
Historian and author of John Hancock (DB 62213) examines the personal and political life of sixth American president John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). Discusses Adams’s father—the second U.S. president—and the younger Adams’s career as a diplomat prior to his 1825 election to the highest office. Commercial audiobook. 2012.
Download John Quincy Adams, DB 76340
John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit
James Traub
Biography of the sixth president of the United States–and son of the second—John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). Discusses his early life as the son of a founding father, forays into political life—including roles as ambassador and secretary of state—presidency, family life, and the impact of his personality on political ambitions. 2016.
Download John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit, DB 86033
John Quincy Adams
Robert Vincent Remini
Personal and political portrait of John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), sixth president of the United States and son of the second president. Describes his long diplomatic career, his difficulties and accomplishments as commander-in-chief, his return to the House of Representatives after the presidency, and his defense of the participants in the 1839 Amistad slave revolt. 2002.
Download Braille, John Quincy Adams, BR 14399
John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life
Paul C. Nagel
Based on Adams’s diary and correspondence, this biography depicts his family life as well as his political career. Covers his negotiation of the Monroe Doctrine, his successful defense of the Amistad antislavery case before the Supreme Court, and his term as the sixth U.S. president. 1996.
Download Braille, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life, BR 11349
John Quincy Adams: Sixth President of the United States
Zachary Kent
John Quincy Adams was born in 1767 in Massachusetts, the first son of John and Abigail Adams. At the age of ten, he accompanied his father to Paris and spent the next seven years in Europe. Upon his graduation from Harvard, he entered the field of law. Like his father, the second president, John Quincy served the nation in many ways, including as ambassador and as president. For grades 3-6. 1987.
Download John Quincy Adams: Sixth President of the United States, DB 30385
The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
William J. Cooper
A historian recounts the often-dismissed role that John Quincy Adams played in early American history and politics. Discusses his fight against slavery, the Jacksonian tide, the gag rule, and more. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams
Louisa Thomas
Chronicle of the life of Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (1775-1852), wife of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. Describes her early years growing up in England and France, her marriage to Adams, health challenges, and defining her role as First Lady. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2016.
Download Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, DB 84224
Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon
Michael O’Brien
Bancroft Prize-winning British historian re-creates the forty-day journey by Louisa Catherine Adams and her seven-year-old son from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Paris during the winter of 1815. Provides an in-depth look at the early life of the future American first lady, wife of John Quincy Adams. 2010.
Download Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon, DB 72404
My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
John Adams
The editors selected 289 entries from the voluminous correspondence between the man who became the second president and Abigail—his wife, advisor, and friend. The couple, who endured many separations until John’s presidency ended in 1801, began writing in 1762 and discussed the war, John’s political career, and their family. 2007.
Download Braille, My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, BR 17713
Samuel Adams: The Father of American Independence
Dennis B. Fradin
Biography of the Massachusetts colonist who encouraged American independence. Covers his family background, his education at Harvard—where he chose politics as a career, his efforts to rouse the colonists against British injustice, and his role in United States history. For grades 5-8. 1998.
Download Samuel Adams: The Father of American Independence, DB 47345
Why Don’t You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
Jean Fritz
Describes Samuel Adams’s activities in helping stir up the American Revolution, and how his cousin John Adams finally persuaded him to learn to ride a horse. For grades 2-4.
