Andrew Jackson, H. W. Brands
Andrew Jackson, H. W. Brands
12 Rating(s)
List: $40.00 | Sale: $28.00
Club: $20.00

Andrew Jackson
His Life and Times

Author: H. W. Brands

Narrator: John H. Mayer

Unabridged: 25 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/13/2005


Synopsis

The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.

The most famous American of his time, Andrew Jackson is a seminal figure in American history. The first “common man” to rise to the presidency, Jackson embodied the spirit and the vision of the emerging American nation; the term “Jacksonian democracy” is embedded in our national lexicon.

With the sweep, passion, and attention to detail that made The First American a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a national bestseller, historian H.W. Brands shapes a historical narrative that’s as fast-paced and compelling as the best fiction. He follows Andrew Jackson from his days as rebellious youth, risking execution to free the Carolinas of the British during the Revolutionary War, to his years as a young lawyer and congressman from the newly settled frontier state of Tennessee. As general of the Tennessee militia, he put down a massive Indian uprising in the South, securing the safety of American settlers, and his famous rout of the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 made him a national hero.

But it is Jackson’s contributions as president, however, that won him a place in the pantheon of America’s greatest leaders. A man of the people, without formal education or the family lineage of the Founding Fathers, he sought as president to make the country a genuine democracy, governed by and for the people. Jackson, although respectful of states’ rights, devoted himself to the preservation of the Union, whose future in that age was still very much in question. When South Carolina, his home state, threatened to secede over the issue of slavery, Jackson promised to march down with 100,000 federal soldiers should it dare.

In the bestselling tradition of Founding Brothers and His Excellency by Joseph Ellis and of John Adams by David McCullough, Andrew Jackson is the first single-volume, full-length biography of Jackson in decades. This magisterial portrait of one of our greatest leaders promises to reshape our understanding of both the man and his era and is sure to be greeted with enthusiasm and acclaim.

Look for H.W. Brands's other biographies: THE FIRST AMERICAN (Benjamin Franklin), THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION (Ulysses S. Grant), TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS (Franklin Roosevelt) and REAGAN.

About H. W. Brands

H. W. Brands taught at Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M University before joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History. A writer on American history and politics, his books include Traitor to His Class, Andrew Jackson, The Age of Gold, and The First American. Several of his books have been bestsellers, and two, Traitor to His Class and The First American, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He lectures frequently on historical and current events, and can be seen and heard on national and international television and radio programs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mara

Update: These days I feel much less ambiguous about Andrew Jackson…suck it Old Hickory. The Hero of New Orleans, Old Hickory, King Andrew — Andrew Jackson's varied sobriquets belie the daunting task for his potential biographers, and I think H.W. Brands managed to rise to the occasion. Jackson was mo......more

Goodreads review by Tim

The Duel Andrew Jackson killed a man in a duel. Here’s what happened. Jackson took the strategy of absorbing the first shot, so he could take his time and return fire without distraction. When he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He realized he only half-cocked the hammer. He then cocked the ha......more

Goodreads review by Joe

Andrew Jackson is a difficult subject, who lived during a difficult time and dealt with difficult issues in a difficult manner. I don't mean to be glib here but if one looks at the issues facing America from the Revolution to the Civil War, Andrew Jackson was seemingly directly or indirectly involve......more


Quotes

“Jackson was an American original, a wholly fascinating figure whom H. W. Brands brings to life in a big, rich biography. . . . Brands weaves together keen political history with anecdote and marvelous sense of place to produce a vivid tableau.” —The Boston Globe

“A great story. . . . Serves up everything you might expect in a ripping yarn: murderous duels, savage Indian raids, equally savage counterattacks.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Highly readable and entertaining. . . . [Brands] presents Jackson, warts and all, as the fascinating and exceedingly real character that he was and lets the man emerge from behind the image to stand on his own.” —Dallas Morning News

“Revealing. . . . A masterful, detailed account of Jackson's life and his contributions to the nation. Thoroughly researched and thoughtfully told.” —The Oregonian

"Altogether splendid.... Scrupulous in its scholarship, it is aimed at the general reader and it is very good to read. It is also deeply informative, without being in the least hagiographic, about its remarkable subject and the world he lived in and changed so greatly." —The New York Sun

"Engaging ... A definitive work." —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"He covers a complex life with extraordinary ease.... Brands has mined the archives and produced a creditable, highly readable and definitely worthwhile study." —Chicago Tribune

"Gives readers a great sense of the man and the rugged Western life that molded him.... It offers insight into how one American leader gained his fame." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Wonderfully told." —The Seattle Times

"Vivid.... Breaks the bonds of academic writing with pace, detail, and a sense of the sweep of history." —San Antonio Express-News

"[Brands] writes with a measured glide that catches the reader's interest. He is a talented, brilliant in description, and easy in tone; in short, Brands is fun to read." —The News-Observer

"Entertaining and hard to put down.... What reader could quarrel with a book that gives you pistols at dawn, an enduring love story, Indian battles, high political drama and some spectacular battlefield scenes?" —The Tennessean

"A rich description of the seventh president's remarkable personality." —Foreign Affairs

"Intensely engaging.... Meticulously renders Jackson's life with unflinching detail. He also conveys the vagaries of war, life on the frontier, the perilous state of the union and brass-knuckles politics of the day. A bracing, human portrait of both a remarkable man and of American democracy." —Publishers Weekly

"Brings 'Old Hickory" to vivid life." —National Review