American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

American Lion Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (based on 41 customer reviews)

(Hardcover)
Author: Jon Meacham
Publisher: Random House

List Price: $30.00
Amazon's Price: $18.00
You save: $12.00 (40%)

click for more info

Most useful review as voted by customers:
144 out of 162 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/11/08

My Husband was right again!

I started this book with trepidation as I am not a big nonfiction reader, I love thrillers and mysteries, but my husband said I had to read this new Andrew Jackson book that he had some how wrangled an advance copy. I have to grudgingly admit that he was right, this book was as much a page turner as the recent Patterson. Even more so because this stuff actually happened! Also my enjoyment of the book was probably enhanced given the current political season. One of the things that struck me was how thier are so many who complain today about the rancor in politics, and what happened to bipartisanship? After reading this book I realize political discourse was a lot more wild in the past, much more wild than anything we could imagine today. There was a time when it was not uncommon for two political rivals to settle their differences with a duel.

This is the story of the life and times of the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. I have to admit I did not know much about the man prior to reading the book, but his life makes for a fascinating read. His life was an adventure full of drama. A real man of the people I found myself identifying with him in spite of his serious faults. This book made me see how his individualist outlook is still with us today and traces back in part to Jackson. Pull a twenty dollar bill out of your pocket and this is the man and his times "American Lion" is about. Hopefully, young people will read this book and get a better idea about the roots of our great country. So I have to give my husband credit for recommending my two favorite reads of 2008 Across the High Lonesomeand "American Lion."

53 out of 67 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/14/08

American Biographer: Jon Meacham

American Lion is a wonderfully crafted biography about an incredibly interesting and oft-overlooked American who helped shaped this country. Meacham evenhandedly discusses the good, the bad, and the really ugly and comes up with a revealing and insightful study of a truly fascinating subject. I highly recommend American Lion and Meacham's other books, American Gospel and Franklin and Winston, for the subject matter and his insightful and exceptional literary style.

47 out of 59 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/13/08

forceful, sage narrative

Mr. Meacham succeeds in humanizing a very complicated figure. His narrative not only captures Old Hickory in all of his ambiguous luminosity, it also shows how understanding this President helps us to understand America -- even today. I highly recommend this book -- not only because the author is a masterful storyteller, but because he's a wise one, too, with an eye to America's struggles today and a sense of how history can help us to address them.

29 out of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/20/08

Fascinating Journey of a Fascinating Man

As I write this review, I can peer over to the two shelves of books that I have just on one president alone; that being Abraham Lincoln. With the 200th anniversary of his birthday coming up next year, so many books have been focused on him, his legacy, his marriage, and even his time as president-elect. So it was with great surprise that I found this biography of Andrew Jackson. And it was an even greater surprise that I found it enchanting.

Jon Meacham's Andrew Jackson is rough, brilliant, difficult, and all together human. Meacham's writing attempts to avoid deifying the man, but tries to give insightful glimpses into his character and presidency. Sometimes biographies like this get bogged down in too many details and the minute factoids that only the most ardent fans find remotely interesting. Meacham paints a bigger portrait than that. By focusing mainly on Jackson's time in the presidency, it frees him up for a more specific yet more encompassing vision of Jackson.

I admit that my basic content knowledge of Jackson is sorely lacking (well, compare to Lincoln, that is) but after reading Meacham's page-turner of a book, I must admit my appetite has been whetted by yet another interesting character in our history. I can see this making a great Christmas gift for the history buff or biography lover in your life!

26 out of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/22/08

Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the apex of power

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. I looked forward to the release of this book with great anticipation and began reading it as soon as I received my copy. This book gives great detail about Jackson's ancestry and early life of hardship; including the loss of everyone close to him. Meacham does a wonderful job telling the story of how Jackson improved himself by studying law, his rough journey west to Tennessee, his difficulties of life on the frontier in the late 18th and early 19th century, his military career, and of course his presidency, which was pivotal in American history and helped define a new age of American politics. The section on Jackson's post-Presidential years seemed to be glossed over a bit, probably for the purpose of keeping the book under 600 pages, but nonetheless was very good.

For a book of philosophy I would highly recommend Understanding: Train of Thought.

12 out of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/15/08

Outstanding historical portrait of Jackson

One can only judge this book on the quality of writing and thoroughness of the research. Mr. Meacham does not disappoint on either.

Books

(display all categories)

Adjust text size.