September 15, 2008
Newsweek
editor and bestselling author Meacham (Franklin and Winston
) offers a lively take on the seventh president’s White House years. We get the Indian fighter and hero of New Orleans facing down South Carolina radicals’ efforts to nullify federal laws they found unacceptable, speaking the words of democracy even if his banking and other policies strengthened local oligarchies, and doing nothing to protect southern Indians from their land-hungry white neighbors. For the first time, with Jackson, demagoguery became presidential, and his Democratic Party deepened its identification with Southern slavery. Relying on the huge mound of previous Jackson studies, Meacham can add little to this well-known story, save for the few tidbits he’s unearthed in private collections rarely consulted before. What he does bring is a writer’s flair and the ability to relate his story without the incrustations of ideology and position taking that often disfigure more scholarly studies of Jackson. Nevertheless, a gifted writer like Meacham might better turn his attention to tales less often told and subjects a bit tougher to enliven. 32 pages of b&w photos.
November 15, 2008
There are numerous books on the seventh president, but this one is distinguished by its particularly fluid presentation.As the subtitleindicates, it has special appeal for those readers who may be uninterested in a complete cradle-to-gravetreatment but arelooking fora particular focus on the Jacksonpresidency. The evolution of presidential power is the basic theme around which Meacham constructs his riveting account of the freshness Jackson brought to the White Housemeaning, before his advent into the chief executive office, political power was considered to be best left in the hands of the landed elite, but Jackson believed in the primacy of the will of the common people, and during his administration, democracy was making its stand. This was a difficult time for the American republic; the issue of slavery wasdeveloping into a major political issue, and with that, the rise of southern questioning of just how strongthe union of states was and what rightsindividual states possessed tosafeguard regional interests.But Jackson administered the ship of state with good instincts and wisdom.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)