“Long before ‘Barack and Michelle’
or ‘Bill and Hillary,’ there were ‘John and Louisa.’ Leave it to my friend Jane to set us straight on America
’s first real power couple. And leave it to this incredible
historian, to show how John Quincy and Louisa Adams not only took
themselves to new heights, but this country to new heights as well. Just when I thought I knew everything about John, along comes
Jane to whack me upside the head and complete the power
picture…with Louisa. Great story. Great book. Great, period."
—Neil Cavuto, Anchor and Sr. VP, Fox News
Channel and Fox Business
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 reads 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.
How Jane Wrote American
Phoenix
“Jane Hampton Cook’s American
Phoenix is a hugely entertaining and deep and
dramatic portrait of
America
’s sixth president and his wife Louisa, the only First Lady born
outside of the
United States
. It tells the forgotten story of the Adamses in exile, when John
Quincy was James Madison’s minister to
Russia
, and how his diplomacy, with Louisa’s assistance, helped to end
the War of 1812,
America’s perilous second revolution. Cook creates vivid, cinematic
scenarios, reminiscent of a David Lean epic set in Napoleonic
Europe. The title is telling. If there is a better example of a
political and historical comeback and a continuation of service to
country than American
Phoenix,
I’ve yet to read it.”
—Kevin Knoblock,
documentary filmmaker, writer and director, A City Upon A Hill
Jane Hampton Cook
Video Biography
“This wonderful book from Jane Hampton
Cook goes a long way in shining a light on a compelling -- and
little known -- woman in American history. British-born
American Louisa Catherine Adams was a patriot and diplomat and did
her part to secure
America's sovereignty and power among nations at a time when America
was a country in name only. With unending faith in the promise of
our new nation, this future first lady endured hardship, loneliness,
illness, economic uncertainty and a heartbreaking separation from
two of her children to help secure
America's place on the world stage."
—Anita McBride,
AmericanUniversity, and former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush
