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List Price: $35.00Amazon.com's Price: $23.10 You Save: $11.90 (34%)as of 11/21/2009 01:58 EST
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.56092
EAN: 9781400063253
Edition: First Edition
Format: Deckle Edge
ISBN: 1400063256
Label: Random House
Manufacturer: Random House
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: November 11, 2008
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Studio: Random House
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Product Description:
Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency. Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson’s election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad. To tell the saga of Jackson’s presidency, acclaimed author Jon Meacham goes inside the Jackson White House. Drawing on newly discovered family letters and papers, he details the human drama–the family, the women, and the inner circle of advisers–that shaped Jackson’s private world through years of storm and victory.
One of our most significant yet dimly recalled presidents, Jackson was a battle-hardened warrior, the founder of the Democratic Party, and the architect of the presidency as we know it. His story is one of violence, sex, courage, and tragedy. With his powerful persona, his evident bravery, and his mystical connection to the people, Jackson moved the White House from the periphery of government to the center of national action, articulating a vision of change that challenged entrenched interests to heed the popular will–or face his formidable wrath. The greatest of the presidents who have followed Jackson in the White House–from Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to FDR to Truman–have found inspiration in his example, and virtue in his vision.
Jackson was the most contradictory of men. The architect of the removal of Indians from their native lands, he was warmly sentimental and risked everything to give more power to ordinary citizens. He was, in short, a lot like his country: alternately kind and vicious, brilliant and blind; and a man who fought a lifelong war to keep the republic safe–no matter what it took.
Jon Meacham in American Lion has delivered the definitive human portrait of a pivotal president who forever changed the American presidency–and America itself.
Exclusive Amazon.com Q&A with Jon Meacham and H.W. Brands
On the eve of the historic 2008 presidential election, we were fortunate to chat with historians Jon Meacham and H.W. Brands (author of Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) on the similarities of their presidential subjects and how the legacies of FDR and Jackson continue to shape the political world we see today.
Amazon.com: One of Andrew Jackson's childhood friends once remarked that when they wrestled, "I could throw him three times out of four, but he never stayed throwed." How emblematic is this of Jackson's career?
Meacham: Utterly emblematic. Jackson was resilient, tough, and wily, rising from nothing to become the dominant political figure of the age. He was crushed by his loss in 1824, when, despite carrying the popular vote, he was defeated in the House of Representatives. But, tellingly, he began his campaign for 1828 almost immediately, on the way home to Tennessee. And he won the next time.
Amazon.com: What would Jackson think of Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
Meacham: I think they would have gotten along famously. It is difficult to imagine men from more starkly different backgrounds—to take just one example, Jackson lost his mother early, and FDR was long shaped by his mother—but they both viewed the presidency the same way: they both believed they should be in it, wielding power on behalf of the masses against entrenched interests.
Amazon.com: How important was Jackson's legacy to FDR's Presidency?
Brands: Jackson was FDR’s favorite president, and Jackson’s presidency was the one Roosevelt initially modeled his own after. FDR saw Jackson as the champion of the ordinary people of America; he saw himself the same way. He compared Jackson’s battle with the Bank of the United States to his own battle with entrenched economic interests. And just as Jackson had reveled in the enmity of the rich, so did Roosevelt.
Amazon.com: Although both were regarded as champions of the people, their backgrounds were drastically different. FDR hailed from a wealthy and politically-connected family, while Jackson was an orphaned son of immigrants. How did each manage to endear themselves to the voters of their day?
Meacham: Jackson was in many ways the first great popular candidate. He had “Hickory Clubs,” and there were torchlit parades and barbecues—lots and lots of barbecues. Jackson helped mastermind the means of campaigning that would become commonplace. He also intuitively understood the power of image, and kept a portrait painter, Ralph Earl, near to hand in the White House.
Brands: FDR combined noblesse oblige with felt concern for the plight of the poor. His polio had something to do with this—it introduced him to personal suffering, and it also introduced him, in Georgia, where he went for rehabilitation, to poor farmers unlike any he had spent time with before. He came to know them and to feel the problems they faced. He took people in trouble seriously and communicated that seriousness to them.
Continue reading this Q&A
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Jackson has always fascinated me--his convictions, contradictions, and scandals make him seem modern in so many ways. "American Lion" not only brought the most complex of presidents to life, it dared to look at him in new and provocative ways. I'd recommend this to anyone with an interest in history--or even in plain good writing.
Rating:  -
I am by no means an expert on books, but I have a passion for history, and wanted to like this book a lot. I like reading about things I do not know about, and since I did not know much about Jackson, I gave this book a try.
The book was well researched, but disappointing in many areas. First of all, the first half of the book (it seemed) focused entirely on his relationship with his secretary of war, John Eaton. While I did come to realize that this relationship, and the problems it ... Read More
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Before starting this book, I wondered how someone who was editor of Newsweek magazine found time to do his day job and still have a few minutes to spare at the end of the day to paste a book together, to say nothing of the running around that was required to locate sources and study them to the point where they would be understood well enough to be included in this book. If this book is the product of the author's spare-time amusement, could it have been better as a full-time effort? And did his day ... Read More
Rating:  -
I had high hopes for this biography, having heard Meacham interviewed. I was so disappointed that I wanted to drop-kick it off a bridge by page 150. The book glosses over his life story. The foray into Florida, the Battle of New Orleans, the Indian battles - none of these merit more than 2-3 paragraphs.
The book bounces around between Indian affairs, South Carolina nullification, intrusive New England clergymen and party politics, but there's no analysis and no development of any of these ... Read More
Rating: -
Have to admit that I had a hard time picking up a book written by Jon Meacham - our politics don't mesh. But, the subject of Andrew Jackson trumped the author and I read it with great joy. He did a masterful job of telling the story of this wonderful president. Not an expert on the subject but I see Jackson as our first activist president who controlled the agenda like none before him. We probably wouldn't like him in these times - he was just too pushy and narcissistic at his root. But, Jackson was ... Read More
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