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by Richard Brookhiser

ISBN: 0465019838
Author: Richard Brookhiser
Language: English
Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (September 27, 2011)
Pages: 304
Category: Leaders & Notable People
Subcategory: Biography
Rating: 4.5
Votes: 969
Size Fb2: 1765 kb
Size ePub: 1307 kb
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Richard Brookhiser Leaders and Notable People English

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Richard Brookhiser’s James Madiso. s a welcome addition to the literature on Madison. His lively biography helps us understand Madison’s political brilliance and its lessons for toda. .

Richard Brookhiser’s James Madiso.is the rare author who grasps the complexities both of history and of contemporary politics.

Richard Brookhiser looks beyond Madison’s personal frailties in this biography. No one would ever have mistaken James Madison for George Washington. Short, scrawny and sickly, he suffered from a hypochondria that convinced him he would lead neither a long nor a healthy life. He was a miserable public speaker who tended to lapse into inaudible mumbling, and well into his career as a politician, he continued to shrink back in horror at the idea of going out on the stump and putting on an electioneering appearance.

James Madison, 304 pages (Basic Books: 2011).

Brookhiser both wrote and hosted the documentary films Rediscovering George Washington, by Michael Pack, broadcast on PBS on July 4, 2002, and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton, also by Pack, broadcast on PBS on April 11, 2011. His book Alexander Hamilton, American led to the "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America" exhibition at The New-York Historical Society (2004–2005), exhibition for which he was the historian curator. James Madison, 304 pages (Basic Books: 2011).

James Madison by. Richard Brookhiser. Want to Read savin. ant to Read.

Richard Brookhiser’s most popular book is James Madison. James Madison by.

Books: James Madison. Basic Books, 2011 ISBN 978-0465019830. For years, James Madison, the president, had fled high summer in Washington and other low-lying cities for the healthier air of his inland home in the Virginia Piedmont

Books: James Madison. James Madison is known as the Father of the ng and recording every session of the Constitutional Convention; leading the fight for ratification in his native Virginia; co-authoring the Federalist Papers, and shepherding the Bill of Rights through the First Congress. But he was also the Father of Politics. For years, James Madison, the president, had fled high summer in Washington and other low-lying cities for the healthier air of his inland home in the Virginia Piedmont. America had been at war with Britain for two years.

A vivid portrait of the Father of the Constitution. James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his story–although all too often overshadowed by his more celebrated contemporaries–is integral to that of the nation

James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his storyalthough all too .

James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his storyalthough all too often overshadowed by his more celebrated contemporariesis integral to that of the nation.

Hachette UK, 27 сент. A vivid portrait of the "Father of the Constitution" James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his story-although all too often overshadowed by his more celebrated contemporaries-is integral to that of the nation.

James Madison, Richard Brookhiser. 2 people like this topic. Want to like this Page?

James Madison, Richard Brookhiser. Want to like this Page?

James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his story—although all too often overshadowed by his more celebrated contemporaries—is integral to that of the nation. Madison helped to shape our country as perhaps no other Founder: collaborating on the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights, resisting government overreach by assembling one of the nation's first political parties (the Republicans, who became today's Democrats), and taking to the battlefield during the War of 1812, becoming the last president to lead troops in combat.

In this penetrating biography, eminent historian Richard Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of the “Father of the Constitution,” an accomplished yet humble statesman who nourished Americans' fledgling liberty and vigorously defended the laws that have preserved it to this day.

Comments:

Runeshaper

This is good biography, but rather short and not that detailed. Of course, it can't be at 250 pages.

Madison was certainly very important in the making of the Constitution, but his elevation above all others is a stretch for me. Yes, he attended the meetings at a time when delegates came and went, he was there faithfully. The author contends that the four great writers of the founding were Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and Gouvernor Morris. I disagree with that statement. John Dickinson was left out, as he usually is because he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, but prior to the revolution, Dickinson with his Letters from a Farmer was widely read and he earned the title of penman of the period. Then he claims that Hamilton was not a great writer....well, almost anyone familiar with Hamilton knows of his tremendous capability in putting his thoughts on paper on a variety of subjects.

The best of the book is that it points out that the Republicans were able to dominate the White House for a generation. With Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe serving two terms each in succession, the Republican party controlled the national government for 24 years, and effectively presided over the death of the Federalist party. As Brookhiser points out, Madison was important to Jefferson in developing party politics and was very good at it.

As for his presidency, the declaration of war against England was not popular and it even caused some in New England to consider leaving the Union and aligning with Great Britain, which would have been disastrous for America. Madison also went to war without a national bank to help with the financing, and while there were some naval victories on the Great Lakes (and even more dramatic victories on the high seas, which are largely absent from the book), the war was not a resounding success. Washington was burned by the British and Madison's selection of people in the war effort and his cabinet was disastrous. His rare exception was Albert Gallatin.

Brookhiser is a good historian, but this biography of Madison is lacking.

Vobei

I still don't feel like I know
Madison. The author seems to put
forward the notion that he was a mildly principled practical politician.
Maybe that's what made Madison tick,
and maybe the thesis is what the
author intended to convey. If so the
author did a good job. I finished the book with a sense that I still really don't know Madison and I'm unsure if
If there was more to the man, or as one writer posited (in The Presidents we Deserved...) Madison was a near Zero. I'm going to try to read another biography of Madison to further try to
understand if anything made him tick besides politics.

Vishura

Over the past year, I've added something to my bucket list. Before I die, I plan to read at least one book on every US president, in order of the dates of their presidencies. I have read a number out of order, having read several books on Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Clinton over the past few years. But, this book on James Madison follows Chernow's Washington, McCullough's John Adams, and Ellis's Jefferson, American Sphinx.

While Brookhiser's biography of Madison provides a great historical timeline of his life, it really does not capture who Madison was. He goes to great lengths to paint a human portrait of his wife Dolley, but fails to capture anything about the personality of the "father of the US Constitution. Following the detail shown for this type of writing by Chernow and McCullough, I found this unsatisfying as if something was missing from the book.

Overall, the history is fine and the prose well written. The book itself was easy to follow and understand. But if you are a student of the psychology of leaders, this book leaves something to be desired.

For a historical perspective, this book does near 5 stars. For a complete profile of James Madison he man, it was a little disappointing.

Jonide

Pretty good overview. Some high lights: Madison was prodding, hard working and very much in the background. And Hamilton: found out for the first time through this book that Hamilton wanted an imperial life-long president. Wow!

Unh

Madison seemed hard for me to get to know. This biography does a fine job in outlining his accomplishments and comparing him to his contemporaries, yet I never felt I got to know the man. It may be less a fault of the biographer and more an aspect of Madison himself. I am reading the Presidents in order and while this book was lighter in number of pages then some books on earlier Presidents I still found it comprehensive and interesting. On to Monroe.

Garr

I was very excited to get this book and dig in. I have always been fascinated by the founders, Madison in particular.

Unfortunately, I only got a third of the way through the book before I had to put it down and find another Madison bio. I found this book utterly annoying.

Rather than describe the history of events and Madison's interaction with them, Brookhiser instead describes the history of events and then inserts his own (often snarky) interpretation of Madison's reaction to them, before finally providing some evidence which is only occasionally the most important thing that Madison may have said or thought at the time. It seems that Brookhiser often subverts the really important stuff to provide evidence that Brookhiser is smarter or more refined than Madison.

I did not buy this book to get Brookhiser's analysis of Madison. I bought it to get a history of Madison, which I would then use to make my own analysis of Madison. I'm pretty smart. I don't need Brookhiser to make my opinions for me.

If you want to be lectured to by a supposedly great historian, perhaps this book will satisfy you, but I found it arrogant and had to put it down.

saafari

I'm so glad I read this book. It gave me a new perspective on the founding of our country. James Madison did so much to give us our current government. I wish everyone in high school had to read this.

a good read,educational.fairly well done.