Meacham's book should be compared to one of the standard references to Jackson, i.e., Schlesinger's important work, The Age of Jackson. There is no question that Meacham has written a very readable and lively account of Jackson, the person, and highlights Andrew's life throughout. Less sure-footed though in Meacham is where Schlesinger excels, Jackson as the exemplar of his age. The Bank War is not as prominent a feature in Meacham as it is in Schlesinger, and more emphasis is placed by Meacham in the political incorrectness of Jackson. The contrast and value between the two will rest therefore on where the reader's sympathies lie most, in the culture wars or in the importance of Jackson for demonstrating how the little man, the small farmer, and the rural non-elite may prosper in Jacksonian America. Of the two, I would tip a hat towards Schlesinger though Meacham is well worth reading.

In the history of American politics, most, if not all presidents have been men adept at polarizing the citizens of the nation. Many were men who were either loved or hated, with little ground in between the two extremes. In American Lion, Jon Meacham details the presidential life of one such man – Andrew Jackson. Touching on his pre-presidential life only briefly, Meacham details the 8 years Jackson spent in the White House, relying “in part on previously unavailable documents.” Meacham is careful to point out in his acknowledgements that “this book is not an academic study of [Jackson’s] presidency.” (p.363)

The book spends a great deal of time on three issues of Jackson’s presidency: the political and societal hubbub surrounding Jackson’s choice for Secretary of War, John Eaton – or more appropriately, surrounding his wife, Margaret; his opposition to the Second Bank of the United States; and his fight against nullification, or what Jackson called “the mad project of disunion.” The coverage of the first, often dubbed the “Petticoat Affair,” seemed to drag on after awhile and made me feel like I was reading the 19th century version of the celebrity tabloids.

Jackson viewed himself (as president) as the people’s representative, sometimes to the point of a quasi-dictatorial aura. He was an incredibly strong willed individual who used his power and influence over family, friends and enemies alike to get what he wanted. Meacham’s descriptions of this aspect of Jackson, however, seem almost to excuse his actions. Meacham also focused on the fact that Jackson expanded the powers of the president exponentially above any of his six predecessors, particularly through the use of the presidential veto.

Although the book is specifically about his presidential life (thus the subtitle Andrew Jackson in the White House), I wish it had covered a little more of the background of how exactly Jackson got to the White House. Additionally, Meacham uses a writing style that follows a chronological approach and as a result, feels incredibly cumbersome and disjointed. One section of a chapter will be discussing a particular issue, only to have the next paragraph jump to completely unrelated one without warning and then back to the first just as suddenly.

While the three subjects mentioned above received extensive coverage, Jackson’s policies and dealings with Native Americans gets comparatively little coverage. Considering that this topic is perhaps one most associated with Jackson’s presidency, I was surprised and disappointed that Meacham did not spend more time on the topic. Even though Meacham’s disclaimer of the book not being “an academic study of [Jackson’s] presidency” gives him some excuse for not spending more time on this issue, I expected a book of this size and renown to have more coverage than it did, especially considering the attention given to the Eaton affair.

Overall, American Lion is a good introduction to Jackson’s presidency. While lacking in details such as his earlier life and rise into politics, it gave some good insights into how Jackson expanded the power of the president. ( )

Andrew Jackson is one of those Americans who will always interest the succeeding generations. His mark on our history is indelible. But there's more to the man the myth that stems from the Battle of New Orleans and the battle over the National Bank. Meacham addresses the human side of Jackson in a very approachable style.

This book focuses on the human side of Andrew Jackson's administration. As the first "common man" to become president, Jackson has always fascinated historians. Besides being the ultimate outsider—it was during his administration, more than any other, where it was decided whether or not America's privileged class would hold all the political power—he also expanded the presidents' power over the national agenda more than any of his predecessors.

Jackson lost his parents at a very young age, consequently he had a very powerful need to be surrounded by his family. When his beloved wife Rachel died a few weeks before he assumed the power of the presidency that role was filled by his young niece Emily and her husband Andrew Jackson Donelson. Unfortunately this arrangement was seriously disturbed on their arrival when one of the president's most trusted advisers, John Eaton, married Peggy O'Neill, who was considered less than acceptable by Washington society. The brouhaha that ensued changed history and may have even been a factor in bringing about the American Civil War.

Once they get rid of Mrs. Eaton things get calmer on the home front while the political situation heats up considerably. Besides destroying the Cherokee Nation's dream to live alongside the white man, Jackson had Calhoun and the Nullifiers to outwit, the bank of the United States to destroy, a nasty confrontation with the French to get past, not to mention giving moral support to the effort to declare Texan independence. He did it by using the presidency in a manner that concentrated power in a way that had never been dared before. He showed how much personality defines a presidency and, for better or worse, changed the nature of the office forever. It went from an office that served at the sufferance of Congress, to one that drives the agenda of government.

This book, more than any other I've read about the time, explores the human side of Jackson's administration and shows how personality and seemingly innocuous events can shape history.

So far what I have read I liked very much. Mr. Meacham writes with a storyline and clarity that are easy to follow and understand. I have not yet finished this book, since I have recently moved and it has ended up in storage for the time being. Though, I do not see him changing his style midway through a book. Especially one that at has received such wonderful reviews thus far. Yes, I would recommend it to anyone. ( )

A very readable biography of a new kind of American president. Jackson was very different in office from his predecessors who were or were connected to the founding generation. Meacham wonderfully shows that Jackson's presidential persona was of a piece of Jackson's personal and military life. ( )

An interesting look at a very complex character who helped shape modern politics. Full review on my blog One Librarian's Book Reviews. ( )

A good biography of one of the most independent, contentious, and fascinating President's in American history. Delves deep into the personal life and personality of Jackson, and uses some of the most recently discovered sources to do so. Illuminates a Presidency that is all too often reduced to caricature. A nice addition to any historian's library. ( )

An interesting account of Jackson's life in the White House. Meacham does a good job showing the tenacity of the man on issues from Indians to the Bank of the US. Obviously his greatest triumph was the his steadfast protection of the Union. It is so easy to forget that secession was so high on the political agenda so many years before the Civil War. ( )

The broad outlines of Andrew Jackson's Presidency are familiar. He put down nullification in South Carolina, eliminated the Bank of the United States, hastened the forced removal of American Indians from the southeast, fought divisions within his own cabinet, and greatly expanded the powers of the Presidency. These stories can be found in any textbook of American history, and are told at length in previous Jackson biographies like Robert Remini's The Life of Andrew Jackson (1988). In American Lion, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham covers all of this familiar ground, but wisely chooses to take a more personal view of his subject, drawing on family correspondence—some recently discovered—to explore the importance of family to Jackson and to reveal how Jackson, left fatherless at a young age, saw himself as a father at the head of a national family.

Much time is spent in Meacham's biography on the Margaret Eaton affair, and Jackson's lengthy struggle to harmonize relations within his cabinet and his family. Jackson emerges as both a stern disciplinarian and a tenderhearted old man, and his use of the power of the Presidency can be seen as a kind of patria potestas, the unchallenged power of a father to arrange the affairs of his family. He was , for example, the first President to use the veto power as a policy tool. Previous Presidents had used the veto sparingly, and only in cases where they deemed legislation unconstitutional. Jackson used it to kill legislation he didn't like. Many contemporaries—especially Senate adversaries like John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay—were greatly alarmed by the expansion of Presidential power under Jackson, and saw in him the makings of a dictator. But Jackson established the model of the modern Presidency, shaping it into the epicenter of American political power and paving the way for strong Presidents like Lincoln and the two Roosevelts.

Jackson, as Meacham recognizes, was not consistent in his political positions. On the issue of nullification (the claim that states could veto, or "nullify," Federal laws), Jackson was an inflexible Unionist, taking a firm stand against the states' rights position of politicians like Calhoun. On the issue of Indian removal, he allowed the state of Georgia to flaunt a decision of the United States Supreme Court that favored the Cherokees. More important than political consistency to Jackson was the successful exercise of his personal will. What Andrew Jackson wanted, Andrew Jackson got. Meacham sums up Jackson's iron-willed character with a neat anecdote at the very end of the book: "In Nashville, according to legend, a visitor to the Hermitage asked a slave on the place whether he thought Jackson had gone to heaven. 'If the General wants to go,' the slave replied, 'who's going to stop him?'"

Meacham's prose is appealing and accessible, and his admiration for his subject is evident. He doesn't gloss over Jackson's faults, but his attitude toward Jackson is generally positive. It's instructive to read Meacham's biography alongside Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848; Howe dedicated his book to the memory of John Quincy Adams, and his sympathies are clearly with Jackson's Whig opponents. (In his review of Meacham's book, Howe writes: "Even those who, like myself, prefer John Quincy Adams' statesmanship to that of Old Hickory will find themselves engaged by Jon Meacham's skillful narrative.") It's difficult to be entirely neutral when the issues raised in Jackson's time about the limits of Presidential power are still very much alive.

Although Howe's book, with its broader scope, does a more thorough job of placing Jackson's Presidency in the broader context of American history in the first half of the nineteenth century, American Lion is an excellent general biography of Andrew Jackson, placing him in a familial context that is often overlooked in political biographies, but which nevertheless illuminates his character as a politician and a man. ( )

Andrew Jackson was the super-celebrity President of his day. Little known today, Meacham makes a compelling case that Jackson is the man who gave the office of President the kind of power it has had since - for better and for worse.
The better is shown by Jackson's actions during the Nullification Crisis, when he stared down South Carolina secessionists some 30 years before Abraham Lincoln would face them again, thereby giving Lincoln the precedent he needed. The worse is shown by the Trail of Tears and Jackson's support for censorship of abolitionists.
Meacham's portrait of Jackson dispels the image of him as a madman, but does not resort to hagiography. The book benefits from original research by Meacham, who read reams of contemporary letters to pull together a view of the Age of Jackson well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. ( )

Jon Meacham’s American Lion is a biography of Andrew Jackson that concentrates on his time in the White House while giving some coverage to the time before and after. Meacham concentrates on the personal relationships between Jackson, his advisors, and his cabinet. These relationships played a surprising role in determining public policy.

Many of the features of the presidency that we take for granted had their start with Jackson. He believed the power of the Presidency should be expanded at the expense of the legislative branch. While the details have changed this seems to be an ongoing effort that continues today. The more I read about America's early days, the more I find they were very similar to today.

I did have one issue with the book, the footnotes. I am a big believer in footnotes and have a hard time reading non-fiction without them. I did not like the way Meacham’s notes were done. The actual notes were at the end of the book and were used primarily for direct quotation. The reader is forced to determine which of several quotations they are looking for, as the only reference is the page number, with several notes for each page. There was nothing in the text to indicate there was a note for it.

Overall, I enjoyed reading American Lion and would recommend it to anyone interested in American history between the Revolution and the Civil War. It may not be for those with more intimate knowledge of the period, but for the rest of us it serves as a good introduction to both Andrew Jackson and the people around him.

I received a review copy of this book from the Library Thing Early Reviewer program. ( )

American Lion by Jon Meacham is a biography of our seventh President, Andrew Jackson. Jackson made a name for himself as a military leader at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1824, he won the most popular votes in the Presidential election, but no one won the electoral vote, and Congress named John Quincy Adams as President. Jackson was first elected President in 1828 and served two terms. Jackson’s vision of the Presidency was different from that of his predecessors – he saw the President as a powerful, central leader who represented the people – and he totally changed the role of the Executive Branch of our government. Some fascinating facts about Jackson are:

* Jackson claimed South Carolina as his home state, but there is some dispute as to whether he was born in North Carolina or South Carolina. Ironically, South Carolina caused a lot of controversy during Jackson’s administration. There was lots of talk of nullification and even a vote approving it once, but Jackson managed to keep the Union together while he was in office.
* He changed the address in diplomatic correspondence – in the past, official correspondence from foreign countries was addressed to ” the President and Congress of the United States;” Jackson said all correspondence should be addressed to “the President of the United States of America.”
* Jackson was the first President to use the veto liberally and as a political weapon.
* The first assassination attempt against a President occurred when Robert B. Randolph tried to kill Jackson.
* Congress censured Andrew Jackson in 1834 for the removal of funds from the Second Bank of America.
* Jackson was responsible for the displacement of many Indians – he disregarded earlier treaties.
* Jackson’s wife, Rachel, was still married to her first husband when she married Jackson.
* Since Andrew and Rachel couldn’t have any children, they adopted one of Rachel’s brother’s twins.

American Lion is a fascinating book – I would say the readability falls between a textbook and a novel. I found myself taking notes, because this book is not a light read, but it is well worth the time it takes to read it. Don’t let the size intimidate you – there are over 100 pages of notes, etc in the back. One thing did disappoint me, though. I thought our forefathers were more honorable than people are today and I was sorry to discover they weren’t. Jackson’s term was marred by a sex scandal, the Presidential elections went on for too long, and there was plenty of political underhandedness going on. It just goes to show you – the more things change, the more they stay the same. History buffs are sure to love this thoroughly researched, well-written book. ( )

I found this to be an extremely poor book. I disagree strongly with the way Meacham portrayed Jackson as a loving family man and protector of the people. Meacham is too apologetic for Jackson's egotism and barbaric acts against Native Americans (Trail of Tears anyone?) and slaves. I would not recommend this book a all. ( )

In "American Lion" author Jon Meacham writes an engaging narrative about the intertwining political and personal lives of Andrew Jackson during his years as president. Meacham portrays Jackson as a transformative president who created the modern American presidency we are familiar with today. Jackson perceived himself to be the champion of the people fighting against powerful financial and political interests. Meacham illustrates how Jackson’s personal life profoundly influenced his presidency. The reader comes away with an understanding of Jackson the man and Jackson the politician. Meacham has us caring about this often misunderstood leader of our nation. "American Lion" is an enjoyable and enlightening read for both the casual reader and the scholar. ( )

American Lion
Jon Meacham
April 30, 2009
512 pp.
Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN-10: 0812973461
ISBN-13: 978-0812973464

The challenge was going to be reading the biography, American Lion about Andrew Jackson, a President for whom I had little respect. My main concern was to remain unbiased and open-minded.

Would it be possible to look beyond his Indian Removal policies and stand on slavery? Or, the fact that he owned many slaves at his home in Tennessee, Hermitage. Owning slaves and being President of the United States was not unusual at this time as history has shown. My ignorance was to judge this man by these two evils when in fact, after reading American Lion I have come to revere him as one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had.

So, how can a man, this President have such diverse inconsistent beliefs when it comes to the liberty of his people. He was according to Meacham, a Jeffersonian who believed in the Constitution and believed that blacks, indians were not equal and that America was the protector of these people. He considered himself the Father of America, and everything he did, every policy he made, every speech he delivered, every breath he took was for welfare and future preservation of the Union.

He was responsible for keeping the Union together close to three decades prior to the Civil War. He fought the battle against South Carolina when they wanted to eliminate what they considered to be an unfair tariff. This tariff in their opinion penalized the South and promoted the Northern economy. Calhoun, the legendary orator, opposed Jackson on everything. He promoted states rights where Jackson believed the federal government needed more power. Jackson feared if the states were able to settle issues independently, there would eventually be no Union, and the American republic would fail. He believed the Union was a collective of all states.

Calhoun was the first to threatened the possibility of South Carolina succeeding from the Union. Jackson countered this with threats of military force and strong will. Eventually, he won. He extended the power of the presidency to include the power to veto. He was able to muster support and the eventual power to act as Commander in Chief without Congress. These were major changes in our government that are still in place today.

Meacham won a Pulitzer Prize for this book, without a doubt well deserved. He has presented a fascinating account of the 7th President from a human element. In his prologue he talks about the many contradictions of Jackson. He could be tender and aggressive, visionary and blind. He was censured by the Senate, but later he would not let this remain on his record and he fought to expunge the ruling. He succeeded. In his farewell address Meacham uses a quote of Jackson’s that reflects on his legacy:

“My public life has been a long one, and I cannot hope that it has at all times been free from errors;but I have the consolation of knowing that if mistakes have been committed they have not seriously injured the country I so anxiously endeavored to serve, and at the moment when I surrender my last public trust I leave this great people prosperous and happy, in the full enjoyment of liberty and peace, and honored and respected by every nation of the world.”(338)

Meacham has done extensive research with copious primary sources and endnotes. His writing is a delight on every page, sentimental and highly engaging. The book was well organized with short precise chapters, details are balanced with narrative. Visual support is gained with pages of pictures, although more would be preferred. My opinion of Jackson has changed forever. Whatever your opinion may be, this is a superb biography that I vigorously recommend.

Wisteria Leigh ( )

Before I read this book, I knew that Andrew Jackson was the 7th president, he led the army in victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and there was a great deal of scandal/ dispute over his marriage to Rachel Donelson.

After I read this Pulitzer Prize winning discussion of his years as President, I now know all I ever wanted to know (and a WHOLE lot I could have done without) about the ladies dispute over 'receiving' Mrs. Margaret Eaton, wife of his secretary of war. I seems Margaret was regarded as a rather loose woman by many of the grand dames of Washington, and the author chose to spend literally 100's of pages discussing the reactions to her and Jackson's insistence that the Eatons be treated with respect.

Meacham's theory seems to be that Jackson was sympathetic to the couple since he had undergone the same kind of shunning when he married Rachel.

Consequently, we are given short shrift on some of the more vital aspects of Jackson's life and presidency. For instance, Jackson's views on slavery are fairly glossed over. There are exactly 5 pages devoted to his ownership of slaves (he owned 150), and the fact that he did not ever free any of them. We hear nothing of his actual views of this abominable practice.

We are treated to his denunciations of the US Bank and pages upon pages of everything he did to try to disband it, but for those of us with a lack of indepth knowledge of the issue, we are never given a good reason WHY he wanted to disband the bank. Again we are treated to many many pages of personality conflicts of all the players in this debacle, but scant delineation about the issue itself.

We hear of Jackson's views on nullification and secession, and very his often conflicting views about the Native American population---I definitely would have liked to have had a much more indepth discussion of this vice the ladies tea party debates. Jackson's policies led directly to the Trail of Tears -- the forced expulsion of the Cherokees to western lands, but nowhere do we see how he reacted to it. We are given speeches in which he identified himself as the Great White father, and some indication that he felt justified in breaking treaties, but the subject deserves much more if this book were to truly explain Jackson's achievements.

Meacham posits that because Jackson was orphaned so young, he deeply missed having the opportunity of belonging to family. He saw the American people as his family, and used his popularity to enforce his views. He believed in a powerful executive. He was the first American president to have used the veto simply because he disagreed with a bill Congress had passed. Prior to Jackson, presidents had only vetoed bills they thought were unconstitutional. If you were white, you were entitled to the full protection of the government. If you were black or Native american, (or Mexican--we mustn't forget the few pages devoted to the Mexican wars), you didn't deserve the liberties spelled out in the Constitution.

Meacham sums it:

"(Jackson) also proved the principle that the character of the president matters enormously. Politics is about more than personality; the affairs of a great people are shaped by complex and messy forces that transcend the purely biographical. Those affairs, however, are also fundamentally affected by the complex and messy individuals who marshal and wield power in a given era. Jackson was a transformative president in part because he had a trancendent personality.....he gave his most imaginative successors the means to do things they thought right...

...The great often teach by their failures and derelictions. The tragedy of Jackson's life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. The triumph of his life is that he held together a country whose experiment in liberty ultimately extended its protections and promises to all--belatedly it is true, but by saving the Union, Jackson kept the possibility of progress alive, a possibility that would have died had secussion and separation carried the day."

Jackson certainly changed the role of the Presidency. Whether those changes were good or not so good is impossible to determine from reading only this book. ( )

Jon Meacham won a Pulitzer Prize for this book, probably because it is well written, and most Americans know precious little about Andrew Jackson or the United States in the 1830’s. I, however, think the book suffers from the author’s spending too much time perusing the correspondence of the principal actors. The result is an emphasis on the interpersonal relations between Jackson and his surrogate family (his wife died shortly after he was elected president), while giving somewhat short shrift to the key political and economic issues of the day. Even when discussing the key issues, Meacham spends more ink on who was winning (Jackson almost always won) than on what were the merits of the disputes.

Jackson appointed John Henry Eaton as his Secretary of War. Jackson had been instrumental in introducing Eaton to his wife, Margaret. Margaret became a liability for both Eton and Jackson because she was intemperate and outspoken and because she seems to have married Eaton while still married to another man. Jackson had great sympathy for the Eatons, perhaps because their situation was somewhat similar to Jackson’s with his wife, Rachael, whom he may have married a little before her divorce.

Meacham expends many words on the Eaton affair as a public scandal and source of contention in his cabinet, and perhaps that is appropriate. At least one entire cabinet meeting was devoted to resolving how to deal with the issue. Indeed, Meacham attributes the success of Martin Van Buren and the failure of John C. Calhoun to influence Jackson to their respective stances on the Eaton affair. Yet, I can’t help thinking Meacham could have devoted more space to issues like Indian removal and the Bank of the United States and less to the question of which Washington wives were willing to exchange visits with the Eatons.

One issue Meacham does handle adroitly is that of the crisis over the tariff and South Carolina’s efforts to “nullify” it. Southern planters did not like having to pay Yankee manufacturers “exorbitant” prices for goods. Had not a comprehensive protective tariff been imposed upon them by the northern states, the goods could have been purchased from foreign suppliers at lower prices. Of even more concern to Southerners was the possibility that the northern states would use their leverage to restrict or eliminate slavery through legislation. Thus Calhoun and others promulgated a doctrine of nullification that would have permitted individual states to ignore federal legislation unfavorable to them.

Jackson saw the nullification theory as tantamount to the power to secede from the Union. Jackson asked for and received from Congress authority to enforce the tariff by military force if necessary. However, he was also instrumental in reducing the rates of many of the import duties. One of the main thrusts of Jackson’s second inaugural address was directed to opposing the nullification doctrine. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln analyzed Jackson’s address in formulating his own legal theories in opposition to the South’s later secession. The combination of the authorized military action, reduced duties, and Jackson’s eloquence was sufficient to defuse the nullification crisis, and the southern states did not ignore federal law for another twenty-four years.

In contrast to his coverage of nullification, Meacham says little about Indian removal (the forceful relocation of virtually all Indians from the southern states to lands west of the Mississippi) except to point out that Jackson was its leading proponent. (Georgians wanted their valuable land for themselves and the state legislature enacted laws designed to force the natives to migrate west. John Marshall's Supreme Court declared the Georgia laws invalid, but Jackson ignored this decision. When the Cherokees refused to leave, Jackson sent troops who forced them at gunpoint to sign a treaty giving up their lands. Three years later they were driven along the "trail of tears" to the barren wastes of Indian Territory (today's Oklahoma). Thousands died during or just after this journey.)

Even less satisfying is Meacham’s treatment of the controversy over the Bank of the United States, the brain child of Alexander Hamilton. We learn that Jackson was against it, saying it financed the political campaigns of his enemies, and that Nicholas Biddle, the Bank president, was for it. Nowhere does he discuss the merits of the bank (remember, this was before there was a federal reserve) or whether Jackson’s allegations of favoritism toward his rivals had any substance to them. Only one paragraph is devoted to the fact that a financial panic and severe depression struck the country only months after Jackson left office. Meacham mentions that there is “much historical debate” over the effects of Jackson’s economic policies, but doesn’t characterize or even describe the debate.

Meacham’s description of Jackson as a person is well wrought. He owned 150 slaves, and freed none of them, even upon his death. He was formidable and an exceptionally strong leader. After Jackson’s death, when one of his slaves was asked whether he thought Jackson had gone to heaven, the slave answered, “If the General wants to go, who’s going to stop him?”

He was the first president to use the veto power against legislation simply because he disagreed with it—prior presidents had vetoed only bills they thought were unconstitutional. He justified his exercise of power on the fact that the president was the only person elected by “all the people.” In those days, senators were elected by state legislatures. This exercise of power, however, included the tendency to reward those loyal to him and punish his enemies. But the conflicts were couched in such a way as to make it seem as if it were the will of the people versus a disdainful elite. Meacham does not analyze the repercussions of this type of populism.

Rating: This book focuses too much on the personal to the detriment of the political. In the current political climate, readers could benefit by learning about a president who claimed to represent the little people, and then used to office to go after his internal enemies no matter what the cost to country and decency. Those who choose this book should make careful comparison to other historical treatments of Jackson, in order to get the full story.

(JAB) ( )

This well written book focuses on the personal life of Jackson especially the role of his beloved niece and nephew. Jackson's life story is fascinating and, in many ways, the issues of his times were a "dress rehearsal" for the Civil War. ( )

I found this book good reading. It is magnificently researched, with really extensive page notes and a 13-page bibliography. Meacham effectively shows that there is much admirable about Jackson and his presidency, even tho Jackson's Indian removal policy is morally indefensible and Jackson was oblivous to the moral wrong of slavery. The book is nicely chronaolgical, and I found it was eminently readable--'dry' subjects like the war against the U.S. Bank and the removal of Government funds therefrom being ably and not over-exhaustingly presemted. I liked the book better than i expected to, since I did read Remini's magisterial three-vlume biogrphy of Jackson, and Schlesinger's The Age of Jackson--but that has been a while ago, and I found this book reading I much enjoyed ( )

Andrew Jackson is one of my favorite figures in American History. Unfortunately, this book doesn't really explain why.

American Lion concentrates on Jackson's presidency. Maybe it really was that unremarkable, but Meacham spends too much time doting on the largely uninteresting affairs of his associates and not enough discussing foreign policy or the forced removal of Native Americans beyond the Mississippi. Of the issues that are discussed at length was South Carolina's first attempt at seccession, and the destruction of the Second Bank of the US.

Jackson was very much a populist...Meacham tells us time and again that he was an ally of the people against the mechanations of the powerful elite. This laid the foundations of the Democratic Party. I didn't think he did a good job explaining how and why that mattered...how the common man benefited from the Bank destruction, or what they were thinking in the North when Calhoun and his cronies were trying to make a case for destroying the Union.

Meacham seemed intent on building sympathy for Jackson, beginning with the death of his beloved wife and the health problems and untimely deaths suffered by Jackson's inner circle and himself. I think Jackson would have mocked that characterization. He was a consummate hard-ass, who expected history to judge him favorably even if he was in a daily struggle. Kind of like this book. ( )

This was a pretty good book about former president Andrew Jackson. The biography was thorough and the reader really did get a chance to see what type of president Andrew Jackson was and the close people around him. The book did get a little slow at times which made it difficult to finish but it was worth it because there is a great deal of knowledge in this book that the reader gains. This is a great book for anyone who is particularly interested Andrew Jackson or American history. ( )

meacham is a first rate talker and presents his topic very well.

I went into this book not knowing much about the presidency of Andrew Jackson, and not having a very strong opinion about the man. While I certainly don't agree with a lot of his policies, I do have a lot more respect for him than before. He never lost a single battle that mattered, neither as General or President.

The author succeeds at letting the reader see the personal side of Jackson. I would be more interested in a book that goes into more depth about the political side and issues of the day such as nullification, secession, the bank charter, dealings with the Indians, etc. At least now I know enough about this period of 19th century American history to know what to look for in the future. ( )