America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick

An accessible and entertaining biography of our nation's greatest public servant and original political maverick John Quincy Adams, from the bassist of the Grammy-nominated band the Avett Brothers.

During the tumultuous period between the era of the Founding Fathers and the disunion of the Civil War, John Quincy Adams was the man standing in the breach. After an unsuccessful presidential reelection campaign, he was left reckoning with his political legacy. But Adams would be dragged back into the fray in ways he never expected, pitting him against the slavocracy and Southern congressmen and solidifying him as a key ally to the antislavery cause.

America's Founding Son tells the tale of Adams's turbulent government career and his evolving views on slavery. Adams, along with lesser-known abolitionists Benjamin Lundy and Theodore Weld, found himself at the center of the coalition that leveled the first blow against slave power in the United States. The battles they fought would be foundational in the push for emancipation to follow. An entertaining deep dive into an under explored period in American history, America's Founding Son shows how John Quincy Adams and the grassroots activism of the 1830s and '40s shifted American politics forever.

Author: Bob Crawford
Publisher: Zando
Published: 03/10/2026
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781638932604


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 02/01/2026
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2025
Library Journal 01/01/2026 pg. 63

About the Author
Best known as the bassist for The Avett Brothers, Bob Crawford brings decades of musicality to his historical work, infusing it with rhythm, urgency, and heart. He is the host of American History Hotline on iHeartRadio and cohost of The Road to Now on SiriusXM's POTUS channel, where he engages public figures and scholars in conversations that connect the past to the present. Crawford also serves as comanaging partner of the Press On Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing pediatric cancer research. Whether on stage, on air, or on the page, Crawford invites audiences to reckon with America's unfinished story--and to find courage in those who speak truth to power.