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American history, book reviews, HW Brands, Jon Meacham, presidential biographies, Presidents, Pulitzer Prize, Robert Remini
If you thought John Quincy Adams’s life was tailor-made for a great biography…wait until you sample Andrew Jackson’s! Far from being the backwoods dunce or boorish frontiersman I had expected, the seventh president of the United States proved to be an impressive, dynamic, forceful and vigorous personality.
There is no doubt that early on, lacking a father-figure in his life, he was the cause of far more than his fair share of scrapes and dust-ups. At times he could be thin-skinned, hard nosed and downright incendiary. But in the face of great adversity in his early life, Jackson worked hard to forge his own path and the world eventually realized he was a naturally-gifted leader (if not an ideal “follower”).
But the conflict in Jackson’s life was not confined to his youth – his years as a judge, militia leader and Major General in the US Army all provided moments of passion, confrontation and strife. At the same time, he was unfailingly chivalrous to members of the opposite sex and could be surprisingly cultured and well-mannered in sophisticated company. And while he possessed little of the diplomatic polish or intellectual finesse of his predecessor, in most ways he thrived as a two-term president. In fact, historians rank him in the top quartile of all who have occupied the nation’s highest office.
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* The first biography of Andrew Jackson I read is also the oldest – “The Life of Andrew Jackson” by Marquis James was published in the 1930s and won a Pulitzer Prize. In hindsight, reading this biography reminds me of eating spinach as a child; I’d rather have been doing something else at the time but I knew the experience was good for me. Marquis James comprehensively chronicles Jackson’s entire life – from birth to death – in a strictly “no nonsense” style. But his writing is too dry and dense for my taste and in order to get the most out of this biography, I would have to read it twice. (Full review here)
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* Next was “The Age of Jackson” by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., published in 1945 and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1946. I quickly realized this classic is not a biography at all – it is a dense, thorough discussion of Jacksonian democracy and the evolution of classical liberalism. Jackson is portrayed more as a cosmic force for justice and equality than as a flesh-and-bones man who served a two-term presidency. Not for the timid reader (or casual fan of the presidency), this classic is both intellectually stimulating as well as challenging. (Full review here)
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* Robert Remini’s classic three-volume series on Andrew Jackson was next on my list. “Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Empire (1767-1821)” (volume 1) was my favorite of the series, covering the first fifty-four years of his life including his youth, his move to the western frontier and his service as a military leader. (Full review here)
“Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom (1822-1832)” (volume 2) covers a ten-year period of Jackson’s life, from his unsuccessful campaign to win the presidency in 1824 through his first full term in the White House after the election of 1828. (Full review here)
“Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy (1833-1845)” (volume 3) covers Jackson’s second term in office and his post-presidential life, providing an excellent synopsis of Jackson’s life and legacy. (Full review here)
Overall, Remini’s series requires a significant investment of time…but the payoff is huge. For the nearly ideal combination of breadth vs. depth, writing quality, analysis and interpretation and an enjoyable reading experience, I can imagine no better place to look.
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“The Life of Andrew Jackson“ is Robert Remini’s single-volume abridgment of the three-volume series and was published four years after he completed the trilogy. This biography is extremely faithful to the original series and captures the most relevant aspects of his life while leaving aside some of the more detailed facts and less important anecdotes. In not quite four-hundred pages of text Remini almost flawlessly distills the essence of the much longer series and leaves nothing critical behind. If I hadn’t already read the series from which this was derived, I might have felt this was the ideal biography of Andrew Jackson. (Full review here)
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“Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times” is H.W. Brands’s 2005 biography of Andrew Jackson. Its primary strength is the better-than-average historical context which is wrapped around Jackson’s life. Most other biographies assume the reader is knowledgeable about events taking place away from Jackson’s sphere (such as the signing of the Treaty of Paris and detailed aspects of the War of 1812).
Brands ensures that Jackson’s most important moments are seen through a lens that also displays this broader context. However, the biography leaves aside a great deal of color (concerning many of Jackson’s personal and political friendships, in particular). And the author’s insight and interpretation are largely absent – until the very last pages of the book. Overall, a solid biography of Jackson, but not my favorite. (Full review here)
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Jon Meacham’s 2008 “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” was my final biography. A Pulitzer Prize winner written in the past decade, my expectations for this biography were high. But writing a new biography of an already well-documented president is a difficult task. What else can be said about Jackson? What new conclusions can be highlighted in yet another book? Meacham’s approach is to focus on Jackson the President, largely leaving aside his evolution from youth to budding politician, and to add new flavor to his presidency based on previously unpublished letters written by members of Jackson’s inner circle.
Although I enjoy Meacham’s writing style, the new “revelations” are insufficient to overcome the headwind created by rushing through Jackson’s first five decades, and I had hoped there would be more revealing observations about Jackson’s life and legacy. Finally, the Eaton Affair (a sex “scandal” involving the wife of a Cabinet member) seems over-emphasized while other important facets of Jackson’s presidency feel rushed, such as the fight to terminate the Bank of the United States and Jackson’s pursuit of westward expansion.
Overall, “American Lion” may be the best single-volume biography of Jackson behind Remini’s abridgment, but is not as satisfying as I had hoped. (Full review here)
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Best Biography of Andrew Jackson: Robert Remini’s three-volume series
Best Single-Volume Biography of Jackson: Robert Remini’s “The Life of Andrew Jackson”
Best Single-Volume Runner-Up: “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
Have you read Burke Davis’ “Old Hickory?” Thanks for the recommendation of Remini’s series.
I have not – thanks for bringing it to my attention! Looks interesting…I’ll have to add this to my follow-up list.
I was wondering if read a book called Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep of NPR and if you have, what you thought of the book? 🙂
I haven’t read it but I think you’re the second person to mention it. I had an enormous number of comprehensive biographies to choose from on Jackson so this one didn’t make the cut for a variety of reasons, but if you read it please let me know what you think so I can add it to my follow-up list if it’s compelling-
I thought it was interesting, but I did not know that much about Jackson, Jackson’s retail estate deals, Cherokee leader John Ross,the history of the US in the 1820s, or the history of the “Deep South” before I read the book. I am sure other longer biographies of Jackson covered all that information.
I concur with Peter. Inskeep’s book is insightful, comprehensive, and well written indictment of Jackson. He has a reporter’s flare for telling a story (not surprising since he is a reporter). It’s not a comprehensive life of Jackson, but it provides insight into one of the more notorious aspects of his legacy.
I recently finished Robert Remini’s three-volume biography of Jackson, and I confirm your assessment above that it seems to be the best place to go for somebody who really wants to learn about his life and times. As you said, it is a significant investment of time and energy, but it is worth it. Jackson is perhaps the least clearly-remembered of our great presidents, and that neglect does not seem likely to improve any time soon, particularly considering the fact that he just got booted off the $20 bill. (Although it is a bit ironic that his face was ever used on paper money, given his attitude towards it.)
For those with less time to devote to Jackson, I would like to put in a word for the brief, introductory biography by Sean Wilentz that came out in 2005. He does a good job of hitting the most important points about the man in under 200 pages.
Thanks; it sounds like i should try Wilentz’s “American Presidents Series” book on Jackson as part of my follow-up list. Although these aren’t usually as rewarding for me as the more comprehensive biographies, they are a great way of getting the essence of the president without a huge investment of time.
Have you considered the biography of Andrew Jackson “In Defence of Andrew Jackson “, by Bradley J. BIRZER.
The favorite AJ bio. of several editors of the Andrew Jackson Papers is the multi-volume Life of Andrew Jackson by James Parton, published between 1859 and 1861. I haven’t read it, yet, but they say what makes it stand out is it closely follows documentary evidence while being supplemented with interviews of those who knew Jackson. There was a big review of several AJ biographies in the Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2009, and the Parton bio. was described favorably there. That article is available online with free access. The Parton bio. also is online free at Internet Archive.
I’m reading Jacksonland right now, by Inskeep. Referring to “Peter’s” comment above, I wouldn’t assume that other biographies contain all that Inskeep’s book does, or even much of it. It’s a thorough and unflattering indictment. Inskeep purports to reveal more about Jackson’s self-interested double-dealing and land speculation at the expense of the Indians, especially the Cherokee Nation, than have the standard biographies of Jackson. (Read Inskeep’s “Sources and Acknowledgments” essay at the back of Jacksonland.) This was crooked profiteering for financial and political gain. Supporters of Jackson got the land. Jackson expanded slavery. But one shouldn’t be surprised that more damning information only now is coming forth; Remini and Wilentz are old pro-New Deal progressives out of the Arthur Schlesinger mold. They view History and particularly certain historical figures through a progressive lens. Jackson, to them, was an early harbinger of FDR. These historians do some good work, of course, but one needs to know that progressivism colors their interpretation of history. Some of Jackson’s misdeeds like Indian removal consequently have been downplayed in older work and even in some newer work. There is the temptation to extol Jackson’s democratization for the common man while minimizing his ethnic cleansing, profiteering, and his strengthening of slavery.
Mark, I recently finished Remini’s biography, and I do not find your characterization of his work to be accurate. Remini captures quite well, I think, the paradoxical nature of Jackson’s presidency. There was much to admire and much to lament, of course. At present, of course, the tendency is to emphasize the bad about Jackson, to the extent that he has actually gotten thrown off the $20 bill in favor of a much less deserving, yet suitably politically correct, historical figure. Remini hardly gives short shrift to Jackson’s unfair treatment of the Indians, nor to the fact that his overriding vision of the preservation of the union led to his view that the question of slavery belonged to the states. He correctly saw that to try to end slavery would lead to disunion or bloody civil war. It did. We can see with hindsight that it was worth it, but perhaps it was not so obvious at the time. He was probably unfair to his critics, seeing nothing but political attacks in the calls to end slavery, although it is true that his some of his critics used this line of attack against him simply as a weapon, not because they really cared about the issue.
I am not sure whether it is in fact true that Remini saw Jackson as an early harbinger of FDR. Perhaps it is, but his relentless trimming of the federal budget, his refusal to support “improvements”, led to his being the only president in history to eliminate the national debt. Not exactly what we think of when we remember FDR.
Anyway, your characterization of Remini is not fair or accurate. He gives plenty of space to Jackson’s enemies, who made exactly the negative points you have made about Jackson. He also, however, balances that with the good, unlike the general tendency of our times.
I read Meacham’s American Lion about 6 years ago and barely remembered anything from it. This go round, I had Remini’s volumes and cannot describe the biography any better than you already have, “ideal combination of breadth vs. depth, writing quality, analysis and interpretation and an enjoyable reading experience.” I had not previously appreciated Jackson’s Jeffersonianism, especially the belief in limited government with a strong executive as a voice of the population.
I concur with Peter. Inskeep’s book is insightful, comprehensive, and well written indictment of Jackson. He has a reporter’s flare for telling a story (not surprising since he is a reporter). It’s not a comprehensive life of Jackson, but it provides insight into one of the more notorious aspects of his legacy.
Steve – quick question:
I’d like to read Remini’s consolidated biography, but there’s no audiobook version (a prerequisite for those of us who do half of our “reading” during morning/evening commutes). Do you have any idea if his biography in the “Great Generals” series would balance the subject matter that is insufficiently outlined (i.e. his earlier years) in Meacham’s book?
I have to admit it looks interesting. Based on the preview available for the paperback version I get the sense it will fill in a lot of the gaps but I can’t quite tell how much color/context it provides on his early life apart from his military service. If you do give it a try, let me know what you think! I’m intrigued…
I was pleased to read your comments about Meacham’s “American Lion, especially the incredible overemphasis on the “sex” scandal and its importance. Thought I was reading the script for some new reality show. I found the parallels between Jackson’s experience as president and President Trump’s experience are simply remarkable, both outsiders disliked by nearly all professional politicians, including those within their own parties. I just read Kilmead’s book about the Battle of New Orleans and found the history riveting, although did not like the writing style. My next target is Remini’s “The Life of Andrew Jackson.” Thanks for the recommendation.
In many ways our current president reminds of a bit of Teddy Roosevelt, some of Andrew Jackson, and…well…a bit of an “X” factor. I sincerely hope I’m around to read an authoritative, comprehensive biography of #45 in about two or three decades (by which time the dust will have presumably settled on his legacy). Enjoy Remini’s biography!
what of the biography that was never finished by Amos Kendall? According to a note from the Library of Congress bibliography the author was one of AJ’s closest political associates.
I haven’t read anything by Kendall, and I wasn’t aware he wrote an incomplete biography of AJ, though I do remember him as a member of Jackson’s informal “Kitchen Cabinet.”
As I said on the Remini thread, I so enjoyed Jackson, and had “Jackson time” left on my schedule of reading five bios this year, I was so into Jackson, that I had to pick up another biography, and I chose Meacham’s “American Lion.” A few things I found interesting.
1) Meacham’s detail on the Eaton affair grew tedious after awhile. I found myself just not caring bout how the wives treated the pariah wife, even though it affected Jackson’s first cabinet.
2) Funny how certain writers stress certain events and others completely ignore those events. Meacham has a great, exciting anecdote of Jackson’s early life of an escape from the Indians, that Remini never even touched upon.
3) Related to #2, the biggest event that was covered by one writer but not the other was the death of Rachel Donnelson, Jackson’s niece and de facto first lady. Meacham goes into incredible and tedious detail about her death and funeral, and I found myself thinking, “Hey I don’ remember Remini writing that much about this.” I grabbed Remini off the shelf and found that he barely touched on this. A great argument for reading more than one bio per president.
The two things that really stick in my mind having read multiple biographies on each of the presidents: (i) the same biographical subject can almost seem a different person depending on which author is covering the person due to differences in writing style, biases, points of emphasis, omissions, etc., and (ii) in order to really get a full picture of someone I think you *have* to read multiple biographies, because they may each be 90% similar…but that remaining 10% can be quite instructive in rounding out a personal portrait.
Thank you for this 6 years late – only book that seems to appear when I look online is Jon Meacham’s. I will now opt for Remini’s.
I am currently going through Chernow’s book on Grant which is a great read so far.
Have you considered the biography of Andrew Jackson “In Defence of Andrew Jackson “, by Bradley J. BIRZER.
I’ve considered it, but it seems to be too brief to be a thorough exploration of Andrew Jackson’s life. If you’ve read it and disagree, pls let me know!
Hi Steve, I can’t thank you enough for your website. I’m a young guy who never really cared about history, but I read Chernow’s Washington biography on a whim and was simply amazed. That book led me to wanting to read other presidential biographies which led me to your site. If it were not for this website and your reviews, I would probably have never even heard of the Remini series on Andrew Jackson. I’m in the middle of the second book right now, and I can safely say the series so far has been one of the best reading experiences of my life.
I’m wondering if you could tell me how reading all these biographies has made an impact in your life, both professionally and personally. I’m very early in my biography-reading journey, but I already get the sense that reading these biographies is changing me in some way. I’m just curious to hear what someone who has hundreds of biographies under his belt has to say.
Thanks
Roy, I really love reading comments like yours (for lots of reasons)! It was McCullough’s biography of John Adams that created, for me, the same kind of moment you had reading Chernow’s bio of Washington. And it was then that I decided I had to read that “one” special biography of each president. As it turns out, of course, not every president has one that good…and for some there are several.
The professional impact has been limited, but I have run into people in business meetings who realize I’m the person on the other side of the blog they’ve been following for fun (yes, this has really happened). But personally, I’ve managed to fill up every bit of otherwise unused or sub-optimized time I would ever have and get to read (mostly) great stuff and correspond with people about it. The most surprising upside to all this for me has been the overwhelming amount of feedback I’ve gotten from people who have tips, ideas, are seeking advice, or politely disagreeing on some topic.
But I should also note that one of the primary personal reasons I got started on this to begin with was the fact I hoped you could combine wonderfully engaging reading with penetrating history. What better way could there be to understand how the country was formed, or learn about the American Revolution, or dissect the Civil War than by reading great biographies of the people on the edge of those events?
Now, of course, I’m beginning to translate that to great biographies of non-presidents and have been fortunate to read about some fascinating people like Eleanor Roosevelt, John Rockefeller, Leonardo Da Vinci and Tecumseh. I’m not sure whether I’m more concerned with ensuring I’m reading interesting material or more focused on ensuring I’m digesting meaningful, potent history. But the primary reason I’ve given so few 4.5 – 5 star ratings is that to earn a nearly perfect score from me requires doing both things exceptionally well. And that’s just very very hard to do.
Many thanks for your presidential reviews and in particular this one: it has convinced me to buy the three-volume work by Remini. Like you, I write brief reviews of books I have read as a personal aid, a means to help me remember a bit of what I have read – it is sometimes embarrassing to look at a book I have recently finished, ask, “Now what do I recall from this?” and to find that almost nothing comes to mind. Writing about it at least serves as an external source to help remember something.
I appreciate the work you have put into this.
David, thanks for your note – and I can’t help but smile when reading your admission it can sometimes be difficult to remember the details of a specific book. This is my primary challenge after years of reading presidential bios, and especially after reading several of most presidents. Without my own reviews to fall back on I can sometimes find it almost impossible to remember whether it was author “x” or “y” or “z” who had something uniquely valuable to say about a particular issue, so my reviews (and the notes I take while reading each book) have become invaluable for me!
I hope you enjoy the Remini series – let me know how it works out!
I opted for the American Lion because it was available at my library and I have since put in a request for the Remini single volume. Jon Meacham’s writing makes you feel seasick, as he jumps back and forth between years and decades, feeling like a hapless passenger on a cursed ship with no destination in sight. The most haphazardly written biography I have read so far, I have high hopes for Remini and I promise never to stray from your best choice again!
It’s ironic because I enjoyed Meacham’s bio of Jefferson more than most. But I feel like I liked his biography of Jackson less. And I really hope your high expectations are met with Remini’s biography!