James madison and the making of america
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Best Presidential Biographies
Years ago my colleague, Michael Waldron, and I decided to read at least one biography of every U.S. president. We started before we met and made mostly independent choices on which books to read. We finally got through all the Presidents and compared notes to create a best presidential biographies reading list. If we read different books, I start with Michael’s notes, then mine, and give you our verdict.
George Washington
MW: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. I enjoyed the biography. I’m confident Chernow does his research and produces a comprehensive work.
SA: Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner. A single volume distillation of Flexner’s definitive four-volume biography provides a dated but then definitive overview of Washington. I liked it. When Chernow’s book came out, I ended up reading it too.
Verdict: Chernow’s book. More recent and detailed.
John Adams
John Adamsby David McCullough. A great storyteller bringing to life an important founding father and Ameri
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- Summary
- Reviews
- Author Bio(s)
The best one volume biography of Madison’s life, Ketcham’s biography not only traces Madison’s career, it gives readers a sense of the man. As Madison said of his early years in Virginia under the study of Donald Robertson, who introduced him to thinkers like Montaigne and Montesquieu, "all that I have been in life I owe largely to that man." It also captures a side of Madison that is less rarely on display (including a portrait of the beautiful Dolley Madison).
- Summary
- Reviews
- Author Bio(s)
The best one volume biography of Madison’s life, Ketcham’s biography not only traces Madison’s career, it gives readers a sense of the man. As Madison said of his early years in Virginia under the study of Donald Robertson, who introduced him to thinkers like Montaigne and Montesquieu, "all that I have been in life I owe largely to that man." It also captures a side of Madison that is less rarely on display (including a portrait of the beautiful Dolley Madison).
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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies
[Updated July 2022]
James Madison may have provided the fewest biographies for me to read among the first four presidents but he certainly offered no less mystery. After four books and almost 2,000 pages, I still find Madison as enigmatic as any of the presidents before him. But while he is the least well-known among this group, he was in no way the least accomplished.
Madison was the author, co-author and/or primary “champion” of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, The Federalist Papers, the Virginia Declaration of Rights (the section on religious freedom) and the Virginia Resolution of 1798. He was the Sponsor of Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the second Rector (President) of the University of Virginia, the founder of one of the earliest political parties and Secretary of State. Oh, and he was a two-term President.
Madison was also involved in one of the most unique, powerful, extraordinary and remarkably interesting friendships and political alliances in the history of the Un
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