John Quincy Adams : a bibliography /

Bibliographies, if they are well organized and cite carefully selected sources while maintaining comprehensive integrity, can be one-stop resources for important information and essential tools for researchers. This sixth volume in Greenwood's series on the presidents is such a source. It begins with a chronology of Adams's life and follows with a chapter on manuscript and archival resources. The remaining chapters list entries by broad subject categories (e.g., "Post-Presidential Years"). For the most useful set of entries (those in Chapter 8, "Administrative Associates"), the subject is not Adams at all, but his associates during a long career. Parsons, by providing a source for researching these people, many of them not well known, has given them a measure of life. Although the "Twentieth Century Presidential Bibliography Series" (Scholarly Resources, Inc.) is more comprehensively researched (but of course does not offer a volume on Adams), Parsons's book stands on its own. Includes a list of periodicals consulted and author and subject indexes. Recommended for all libraries. R. V. Labaree; American University