The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters

by Paul C. Nagel

Book Overview

Paul Nagel's Descent from Glory was an extraordinary critical and popular success, a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection hailed by reviewers as "magnificent" (The New York Times Book Review) and "splendid" (The Christian Science Monitor). That book focused on the men in the Adams family, but many readers--and Nagel himself--felt that the most interesting and stirring part of the Adams family saga was the story of the women. Here at last is the book...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195038746
• ISBN13: 9780195038743
• Release Date: September 1987
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

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The Adams women

A small book with a large amount of information. The women described in this book are giants to my mind. They provided succor to their men and ran the equivalent of a modern business in their households, and in cases their sisters as well. I would have liked to know them all.

A Most Interesting Study!

Co-dependent relatives? Disfunctional families? Yes, these are modern pop-psychology terms. But Paul Nagel shows that these things existed at least two centuries ago, in one of America?s most prominent families.Most of the book discussed the Smith sisters --- Mary, Abigail, and Elizabeth. What struck me most about these three is how much they came to rely on each other. This has a good side --- i.e., there?s always a sympathetic ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on, or a pair of hands to pitch in when help was needed. It has a ?bad? side too --- for often one sister?s ?concern? for or about another bordered on interference. And it seems that the first rule of the Smith Sisters was ?Never raise your own children when they can be passed on to a relative.? But who knows, maybe that was just the eighteenth century form of ?day care.?The other major chunk of the book describes John Quincy Adams? wife Louisa: a very fascinating, intelligent, and educated woman ... whose husband probably did not appreciate her. If anything, John Quincy appeared rather wimpy compared to Louisa.The final generation discussed in this book is that of Charles Francis Adams and his wife --- also Abigail.Throughout the book we are treated to accounts and anecdotes about the various Adams relatives and in-laws. It is amazing how the behavior of these people came so close to disgracing or embarrassing the sitting presidents, John or John Quincy. If it happened today, the Press would be all over it!This was the second of Paul Nagel?s books on the Adams family that I?ve read. Like his John Quincy Adams, The Adams Women was informative and well-researched, if a bit pedantic in tone. It brought to life this fascinating family and the era in which they lived.

Fascinating Study

Author Nagel has done a wonderful job of bringing the lives of the Adams women to life. The first part of the book concentrates on Abigail Smith, wife of John Adams and her sisters. Their letters describing their daily lives are fascinating. The various daughters of these women are also highlighted. The only daughter of John and Abigail, Abigail (nickednamed Nabby) is a particularly heartbreaking story. Pushed by her mother to marry a "promising" young man, she becomes the abandoned wife of a cruel alcoholic, living in near poverty. Unable to break away because of the strict moral codes of the time, she succombs to cancer, dying in her father's arms. Almost all of the women of the family were tortured by the alcoholism of either their husbands or sons. Louisa Johnson, the wife of John Quincy Adams is also highlighted. Her unhappy marriage to a difficult man is portrayed sympathetically. Even though thiese women lived almost 200 years ago, their stories are timeless. Unable to contol their own destinies, these women nevertheless contributed greatly to their families and communities.

Another winner for Nagel & the Adams!

Another winner for Nagel. This book is as good as his other two about the Adams family. I still don't find Abigail very likeable. The pressure she put on her children to achieve broke 3 of them and the lone successful child (John Quincy) turned around and did the same with his children. I really enjoyed the writer's descriptions of Louisa. I hope to see a full blown biography of her someday...she deserves it! I gained a true understanding why John Quincy had the personality he did. Abigail was extremely intelligent and ahead of her time. I enjoyed reading of her true partnership with husband John.