Tickets
General Ticket: $25
Member Ticket: $22
*please note: our parking lot will be closed during this program
From Bob Crawford, the grammy-nominated bassist for the Avett Brothers, comes an astounding biography on the extraordinary life and legacy of John Quincy Adams, America’s sixth president. America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick (March 2026, Zando), paints a powerful portrait of an often-overlooked former president, whose fierce independence, nimble activism for democracy, and early crusade against slavery echo today. Joined in conversation by American journalist and political commentator John Avlon, Crawford will dive deep into a tumultuous period of the past and surface with the eerie similarities to modern times. Following the discussion there will be a Q&A and book signing.
Timelier than ever, Crawford’s biography does an incredible job of illuminating the valuable lessons and insights history holds for us. One of the strongest voices against Andrew Jackson’s “Make America Great Again” campaign and Jackson’s unprecedented executive overreach, John Quincy Adams became a political maverick whose grassroots activism and defiance of dictatorial gag-rules shifted the American political landscape forever.
Join us as we learn how the musician’s quiet obsession with books on American history turned him into an unlikely but widely popular public historian and experience real time his gift for making the past feel urgent.
A very special thank you to Book Hampton for being our community bookseller for the program! This reading and discussion has been programmed in tandem with our summer exhibition THIS LAND: Considering the American Landscape, which can be viewed June 21 – September 6 during our exhibition hours 11 AM – 5 PM, Thursday-Monday.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
BOB CRAWFORD
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BOB CRAWFORD is the bassist for the Grammy-nominated band the Avett Brothers, and creator of the iHeart Curiosity podcast series, Founding Son: John Quincy’s America and the SiriusXM Volume Channel Docuseries Concerts of Change: The Soundtrack of Human Rights. He’s also the co-host of the Road to Now history podcast. However, Bob does not just playa historian—in 2020 he earned a master’s degree in history from Arizona State University. More important than his passion for music and history is his dedication to raising awareness about pediatric cancer. Bob and his wife, Melanie, are co-managing partners for The Press On Fund, an organization that seeks to find less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. Bob is periodically a speaker on behalf of St. Jude. Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. IT’s a personal cause, as Bob’s daughter Hallie is a three-time cancer survivor.
JOHN AVLON
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JOHN AVLON is an award-winning journalist, author, news anchor and media executive. He is a former CNN senior political analyst and anchor, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, and the 2024 Democratic congressional nominee in New York’s First District. He currently hosts a solutions journalism podcast on The Bulwark called “How to Fix It” and serves as the Chairman of Citizens Union, New York’s oldest good government group. He also and serves as the co-president of the Steinbeck Writer’s Retreat in Sag Harbor, New York. He is on the Board of Governors of The Overseas Press Club and the advisory board of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. In 2010, Avlon was a co-founder of No Labels – a group of Democrats, Republicans and Independents that created the Problem-Solvers Caucus in Congress.
Avlon has published six books including Lincoln and the Fight for Peace and Washington’s Farewell. In 2012, Avlon won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online columnist. From 2013 to 2018, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast, during which time the site’s traffic more than doubled to over one million readers a day while winning 17 journalism awards. In 2023, Avlon’s CNN digital series “Reality Check” won the New York Press Club award for best TV commentary.
Avlon is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Business School. He is married to Margaret Hoover, the host of PBS’s Firing Line. The New York Times says, “Their telegenic union may be a lesson in overcoming the orthodoxies that divide us.” They live in Sag Harbor New York with their son, Jack and daughter, Toula Lou.