"American history," someone has said, "is all cluttered up with Adamses." Charles Francis Adams, the subject of this authoritative biography, was the son and grandson of American Presidents, and the father of three most distinguished thinkers, writers, and historians. In so splendid a family, Charles Francis Adams's own luster has been less noticed than it deserves.

Leading Massachusetts "Conscience Whig"; one of the fathers of the Republican arty; state Representative and Senator; Member of Congress; one of America's most successful diplomats as Lincoln's Minister to England throughout the Civil War; American arbitrator of the Alabama Claims; unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency; such was the career of a man of whom it has been said, "Greater than any office . . . entrusted to him, he met the requirements of all in a manner to attract attention."

Hitherto only one brief biography of this distinguished servant of his country has appeared. Dr. Duberman gives us the first full-scale account of Adams's career and places him, once and for all, in his true and important position in our history. he also gives a complete account of the vital diplomacy which kept England neutral in the Civil War without which it is doubtful if the Union could have been preserved.