The first Populist The defiant life of Andrew Jackson

Review by Booklist Review

In his day, Andrew Jackson provoked strong feelings of both attraction and revulsion. A hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, Jackson went on to further exploits in the Seminole Wars and oversaw the expulsion of Native Americans from their historic lands. Brown (The Last American Aristocrat, 2020) profiles the rise and career of the seventh U.S. president, scrutinizing in particular Jackson's reputation as a populist. The Revolutionary War upended Jackson's teen years, when he developed a taste for military life despite his near-death experience as a prisoner of war. Jackson prospered on his Tennessee plantation growing cotton, benefiting from the labor of hundreds of enslaved African men, women, and children. His fast ascent in national politics reflected the shift in power from eastern seaboard states to those lands west of the Appalachians, where farmers perceived the old elites as oppressors. As slavery became a more heated issue, Jackson resolutely disparaged abolitionists. Brown juggles the personal and political controversies surrounding Jackson to reveal, as much as possible, what drove the man.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this comprehensive and evenhanded biography, historian Brown (The Last American Aristocrat) makes a convincing case that Andrew Jackson (1767--1845) was the most consequential American leader between Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Noting that Jackson was the first president "to come from neither Virginia nor Massachusetts," Brown documents how Jackson overcame an impoverished childhood in the Carolinas to become a lawyer and land speculator in Tennessee, as well as his rise to national prominence as a military commander during the War of 1812, when he defeated British troops in the Battle of New Orleans. Elected president in 1828, Jackson quashed plans for "a government-chartered national bank catering to economic elites," helped to "institutionalize partisanship" by ousting Republicans and installing Democrats in government offices, brought a "bloodless conclusion" to the Nullification Crisis, and played a central role in displacing Native Americans from their land. Though Brown notes that Jackson's populism is relevant today, when "economic inequality, liberal elitism, and demographic change in America" have once again encouraged a backlash against the status quo, he avoids facile historical analogies, noting that Donald Trump is one of four modern-day presidents (along with Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton) to hang Jackson's image in the Oval Office. Thoroughly researched and fluidly written, this accessible presidential biography will appeal to admirers of Ron Chernow and Doris Kearns Goodwin. (May)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A new biography of the seventh president as a so-called "man of the people." Brown, a history professor and author of books on Richard Hofstadter and F. Scott Fitzgerald, adds to the already rich biographical material on Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) by focusing on his advocacy for ordinary citizens against "established elites." A polarizing figure in his own day--and routinely condemned today for his anti-abolitionism and brutal treatment of Native Americans--Jackson nevertheless "embod[ied] in his improbable ascent the promise of western frontier peoples negotiating a natal age of expanding political participation." Brown's approach offers an often revealing view of how Jackson, drawing on reserves of charisma and ferocity, leveraged his identity as a political outsider to claim widespread popular support. We get a striking sense of Jackson's sensitivity to the dynamics of contemporary media and his skill in promoting among his admirers a quasi-legendary status as a general and statesman. The author is especially good in his descriptions of Jackson's transformation into a heroic celebrity after his success at the Battle of New Orleans, where a significant military achievement was magnified into something grander. Brown also makes clear the essential contradictions in Jackson's character and ideology. Though avowedly committed to the rights of common people, Jackson became a wealthy slave owner, fiercely defended the honor code of aristocratic plantation owners, and saw few limitations to the legitimate powers of the presidency itself. This appraisal of Jackson as the "first populist" ultimately repositions the rise of American populism (typically placed toward the end of the 19th century) and connects its subject's political career, in an intriguing final chapter, with that of Donald Trump, whose appeal in some ways parallels Jackson's. As Brown argues, "the script being written today, that economic inequality, liberal elitism, and demographic changes in America and elsewhere have encouraged a backlash reflected in the rise of charismatic strongman leadership, is one that applies to Jackson as well." An instructive exploration of a controversial and enduringly relevant president. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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