Well written look at this divisive man who became a hero in our time. Shows how human even our heroes are. He lived his life with few regrets and apologies.

David S Brown once again mines a crowded biographical subject--this time, Andrew Jackson--to craft a carefully researched and rewarding read. Highly recommended and very timely.

Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read.

There is not much new to be discovered about Andrew Jackson. His life has been scrutinized by many biographers; from magisterial multi-volume biographies to one-hour wonders, that field has been well and truly plowed. But our understanding of the seventh president can be interpreted in different ways.

David S Brown has looked at Jackson's life through an interesting prism. He views Jackson as the champion of ordinary people, and in the introduction and the conclusion compares and contrasts our seventh president with the forty-fifth. Such a comparison can be only superficial because there is no real comparison. Jackson was a self-made man, a lawyer and famous soldier. He had held high political office, and was a man of intelligence, bravery and personal honor. Ahem.

It was an interesting book to read, and I'm glad I read it. While the story of Jackson's life was familiar, the interpretation was intriguing. After someone made a big fetish out of Jackson, based on rather spurious claims, it was a novel way to consider history.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, war hero, plantation owner, and dueler is certainly one of the most interesting figures of his era and one of the most interesting men to ever assume the role of our country's chief executive. He was born before the revolutionary war, never knew his father who died before he was born, and at a young age, Andrew Jackson himself was taken prisoner by the British Army. He served in Congress, Senate, and as a Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court. He was a much-lauded General credited for defeating the British in the famous Battle Of New Orleans. Jackson's marriage to previously married Rachel Donelson caused the couple much angst as it was discovered two years after their marriage that her previous husband had not divorced her. The Jacksons immediately married again after the divorce but were chastised for the marriage for many years afterward. Sadly Rachel died before Jackson assumed the office of the President. As President, Jackson was opposed to federal banking but was the only president to totally relieve the country of the national debt. His signing of the Indian removal act in his second term is a stain to this day on his legacy. He lobbied for the common man and was extremely popular in the states west of New England. He was the first president to be elected outside of the geographic location that was not part of the Virginia aristocracy. Jackson, himself a Democrat stayed active in the party after his presidency and was in favor of the election of Martin Van Buren as his successor.
In modern times many have compared him to President Trump and he was a favorite of the 45th president who visited his home outside of Nashville. Courageous, outspoken, tempermental, and unpopular with the New England media there are some similarities between the two men. Both served as a stopgap to politics as usual but were radical sometimes in thoughts, words, and deeds.
David S. Brown's well-written biography of Andrew Jackson will add no doubt to the documentation of the life of one of our country's most interesting men who served his country for two terms as President and many years in other roles as a public servant. Even though Andrew and Rachel Jackson lived well, he was not prosperous on his own, making bad financial deals and delegating to others who exaggerated his debt that was considerable upon his death. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in the personal and political life of Andrew Jackson. It is readable and interesting from start to finish.

A very interesting and readable flaw-and-all biography of Andrew Jackson. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

Anyone writing a new biography of Andrew Jackson is going to have to confront a number of elephants in the room that previous biographers didn’t have to face. And David S. Brown not only addresses the elephants, but builds his entire narrative around them.

The first point to consider is that Jackson’s reputation has taken a turn for the worse in recent years. So a Great Man of History-style biography that may have worked before is not going to cut it these days. An analysis of Jackson’s legacy also must consider his many contradictions - he expanded democracy and strengthened the role of the presidency, but at what cost? And the biggest elephant in the room has a name: Trump. Any modern discussion of Jackson will perhaps inevitably lead to a discussion about just how much or how little #7 resembles #45.

The strength of Brown’s new book is that he dives right into discussing all of these, addressing up front what everyone is thinking if they pick up a Jackson biography today. Positioning Jackson as “The First Populist” allows Brown to reframe the discussion from Jackson as champion of the common man, or as an avuncular Old Hickory, or as an “American Lion,” to his status as one of the country’s most populist presidents - in both the good and bad connotations of the term.

Jackson "energized a mass movement" against what the common people saw as the elite political establishment, Brown notes. Distrusting experts and the professional political class, Jackson "trust(ed) his instincts above all else," and "ruled by agitating, confronting, and dividing." If that sounds like someone else we know, Brown goes there and doesn’t tiptoe around it, comparing and contrasting Jackson’s brand of populism with Trump’s, and with others who served, or sought to serve, in between the two.

The book is at its best when it examines Jackson's contradictions and what his populism begat. "Is he the era's greatest democrat or its elected autocrat?" Brown asks. Should Jackson be remembered for standing up for the people with his Bank War, or for fighting Native Americans and spreading slavery?

The book’s introduction provocatively sets up these themes, which are reintroduced in a thoughtful conclusion. In between, however, is a more routine birth-to-death biography that somewhat rapidly retells familiar tales for anyone who’s read about Jackson before. As an analysis of Jackson's presidency, when such analysis is offered, the book is compelling. As a biography of a man whose pre-presidential life was more action-packed than most, the book can be somewhat surprisingly and disappointingly dry.

Some of this is because Brown tends to write with the verve of an academic and not that of a biographer, so Jackson doesn't ever really come to life. Distractingly literate language permeates the prose as, for example, a not-particularly-conversational word like “hitherto" is used in the narrative more than a half dozen times. Some sentences are stiltedly convoluted and difficult to read, like "Only in his early twenties, but able through effort and connections to claim increasingly the status of a frontier gentleman, he proposed to keep this studied momentum moving." And other sentences are cluttered with clusters of clauses, interrupting the flow as you’re forced to rearrange sentences in your mind as you read, as with "Not long before Jackson's arrival in Nashville, Rachel's mother, Rachel Stokely Donelson, was widowed, the colonel having been shot and killed, it is unclear by whom, along the banks of the Barren River while conducting a survey."

The chapters are super short, many only a few pages long. On the one hand, this makes them easily digestible, but it also can make them read like discrete vignettes chronologically told, rather than as part of a larger, flowing, cohesive story.

While Brown’s telling of Jackson’s life story can seem rote at times and lacking in the insightful analysis that the book’s introduction seems to promise, a few moments do stand out. Highlights include Brown’s treatment of the Native American removal process and the nullification crisis, which he rightly links instead of treating as completely separate events, as some other biographers tend to do. By supporting Georgia’s refusal to abide by the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the rights of the Cherokees over the state, Jackson may have precipitated the very South Carolina nullification crisis he was later forced to confront, as "some believed that with Jackson's blessing, a stubborn southern legislature had effectively nullified federal law, establishing a precedent for other aggrieved parties," Brown writes.

So, circling back to the book’s thesis, what does all of this have to do with populism? In championing democracy and the common man, Jackson’s view of presidential powers "appeared to be limited only to the extent the people wished them to be limited," Brown concludes. While this played out most notably in Jackson’s Bank War and in abolishing the spoils system, Brown points out that the “erratic energy” of populist democracy also “collaterally legitimized Indian removal, slavery’s expansion, and the troubling growth of presidential fiat."

The book’s introduction and conclusion are the best and most thought-provoking parts of the book. They would have been even better had they been expanded upon to more fully explore Jackson’s legacy and impact, and the parallels and contrasts between his time and our politics today. And the book itself would have been even better had more of this analysis been incorporated into the narrative.

Ultimately, the book’s introduction and conclusion could be considered a new frame around an old portrait. The portrait itself, which is revealed during the course of the book, remains familiar. But the contemporary frame that surrounds it allows us to see Jackson in a slightly different way. The book as a whole does not necessarily offer a radical rethinking of Andrew Jackson, his presidency and his populism, but it is a notable step toward a more modern analysis of a consequential president whose legacy lives with us still.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for providing an advance copy of this book for review, ahead of its May 17th release.

This book is the latest biography of one of our most controversial presidents, although time has softened how he is viewed, who used force of personality throughout his career to achieve his goals and beliefs. He often disagreed with the positions of others and viewed them as a personal affront. He often failed to see the hypocrisy in his positions as he often demonstrated throughout his life. This is a well done presidential biography and I recommend it for anyone interested in Jackson.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

A well written biography of Old Hickory that follows his life from an impoverished childhood, through a distinguished military career in which he became a popular hero but almost landed the young republic at war with Spain, into his political career that lead to two terms in the White House and considerable influence until his death. Jackson was a polarizing figure in his day and remains so today.
I read this book with the intention of confirming my bias against Jackson. There is certainly much to criticize: a lowly upbringing with limited education; a violent and temperamental personality that lead to multiple duels; a general who considered orders to be mere suggestions; a president who ran roughshod over the rights of native Americans; and a man who continued to wield his influence in the political realm long after his terms expired.
However, I also was introduced to a man who became a lawyer and a general despite his lack of a favored upbringing; a president who truly put the interest of the common man above the landed elite; and a leader who was venerated by the masses. Like all of us, he was a man of many facets and contradictions.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.