The Passions of Andrew Jackson

Zusatztext “Powerful. . . . A challenging! disturbing portrait of a democratic hero! and an equally challenging case study of the democratic system.” — The New York Times “Rich in insight into Jackson’s personality. . . . Burstein makes fair on his promise to look dispassionately at this most passionate of presidents. . . . A very readable! insightful analysis into the character and evolution of the American republic.” — Plain Dealer “Excellent. . . . A must-read for anyone interested in the presidency or early American history.” – Flint Journal “A useful! persuasively critical account of the development of Jackson’s self-image as an honorable patriarch and champion of righteous government..” — The Washington Post Book World “Impressive. . . . Persuasive. . . . Argues that the times shaped Jackson and thrust him into the White House as the first ‘commoner’ elected president because he so personified the young nation’s bold! brash spirit and sense of destiny.” – The Baltimore Sun “In his ably drawn portrait…[Burstein] studies Jackson from many angles: as the orphan of the American Revolution! the self-taught orator! … and as the lanky husband who loved his stocky wife! Rachel! touchingly and fiercely.” – The New York Times Book Review “Well-researched and well-written.. . . Burstein! with his longstanding interest in the American mind! wants to show how we pick our national heroes.” – Chicago Tribune Informationen zum Autor Andrew Burstein Klappentext Most people vaguely imagine Andrew Jackson as a jaunty warrior and a man of the people, but he was much more-a man just as complex and controversial as Jefferson or Lincoln. Now, with the first major reinterpretation of his life in a generation, historian Andrew Burstein brings back Jackson with all his audacity and hot-tempered rhetoric. The unabashedly aggressive Jackson came of age in the Carolinas during the American Revolution, migrating to Tennessee after he was orphaned at the age of fourteen. Little more than a poorly educated frontier bully when he first opened his public career, he was possessed of a controlling sense of honor that would lead him into more than one duel. As a lover, he fled to Spanish Mississippi with his wife-to-be before she was divorced. Yet when he was declared a national hero upon his stunning victory at the Battle of New Orleans, Jackson suddenly found the presidency within his grasp. How this brash frontiersman took Washington by storm makes a fascinating story, and Burstein tells it thoughtfully and expertly. In the process he reveals why Jackson was so fiercely loved (and fiercely hated) by the American people, and how his presidency came to shape the young country's character.Chapter One The Formative Frontier Tarlton passed thro the Waxhaw settlement to the cotauba nation passing our dwelling but all were hid out. Tarleton passed within a hundred yards of where I & cousin crawford, had concealed ourselves. I could have shot him. -fragment in Jackson's hand, probably written late in life for the benefit of a biographer Of the many controversies that envelop the turbulent world he occupied, Andrew Jackson's birthplace is one dispute with local repercussions only: both North and South Carolina have claimed him. The site of his nativity, "the crossing of the Waxhaw," as Jackson referred to it, had little to recommend it beyond a creek, red earth, a modest church, and proximity to the post road. The two Carolinas merged at this fairly nondescript place, and exemplify for us the difference between the words frontier and border. The first is amorphous, unregulated, and in the minds of some, even mysterious; the second is marked and fixed. Suffice it to say that the two colonies were still negotiating jurisdiction of the area at the time of Jackson's birth on Ma...

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Andrew Burstein
• Verlag: Vintage USA
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 13.04.2004
• EAN: 9780375714047
• ISBN: 978-0-375-71404-7
• Seiten: 320
• Abmessung: 131 mm x 203 mm x 17 mm
• Themen: Belletristik > Erzählende Literatur > Briefe, Tagebücher; Geisteswissenschaften, Kunst, Musik > Geschichte