John Randolph (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

John Randolph, known as John Randolph of Roanoke, represented Virginia in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and once famously stated, “I am an aristocrat. I love liberty; I hate equality.” Ideal for history buffs, Henry Adams’s biography of this prominent politician examines Randolph’s tumultuous career and disdainfully covers his preference for Jeffersonian policies rather than the Federalist politics of Adams’s own ancestors.