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James Madison Richard Brookhiser Books

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James Madison Richard Brookhiser Books

This is good biography, but rather short and not that detailed. Of course, it can't be at 250 pages.

Madison was certainly very important in the making of the Constitution, but his elevation above all others is a stretch for me. Yes, he attended the meetings at a time when delegates came and went, he was there faithfully. The author contends that the four great writers of the founding were Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and Gouvernor Morris. I disagree with that statement. John Dickinson was left out, as he usually is because he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, but prior to the revolution, Dickinson with his Letters from a Farmer was widely read and he earned the title of penman of the period. Then he claims that Hamilton was not a great writer....well, almost anyone familiar with Hamilton knows of his tremendous capability in putting his thoughts on paper on a variety of subjects.

The best of the book is that it points out that the Republicans were able to dominate the White House for a generation. With Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe serving two terms each in succession, the Republican party controlled the national government for 24 years, and effectively presided over the death of the Federalist party. As Brookhiser points out, Madison was important to Jefferson in developing party politics and was very good at it.

As for his presidency, the declaration of war against England was not popular and it even caused some in New England to consider leaving the Union and aligning with Great Britain, which would have been disastrous for America. Madison also went to war without a national bank to help with the financing, and while there were some naval victories on the Great Lakes (and even more dramatic victories on the high seas, which are largely absent from the book), the war was not a resounding success. Washington was burned by the British and Madison's selection of people in the war effort and his cabinet was disastrous. His rare exception was Albert Gallatin.

Brookhiser is a good historian, but this biography of Madison is lacking.


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James Madison Richard Brookhiser Books Reviews

I was very excited to get this book and dig in. I have always been fascinated by the founders, Madison in particular.

Unfortunately, I only got a third of the way through the book before I had to put it down and find another Madison bio. I found this book utterly annoying.

Rather than describe the history of events and Madison's interaction with them, Brookhiser instead describes the history of events and then inserts his own (often snarky) interpretation of Madison's reaction to them, before finally providing some evidence which is only occasionally the most important thing that Madison may have said or thought at the time. It seems that Brookhiser often subverts the really important stuff to provide evidence that Brookhiser is smarter or more refined than Madison.

I did not buy this book to get Brookhiser's analysis of Madison. I bought it to get a history of Madison, which I would then use to make my own analysis of Madison. I'm pretty smart. I don't need Brookhiser to make my opinions for me.

If you want to be lectured to by a supposedly great historian, perhaps this book will satisfy you, but I found it arrogant and had to put it down.
My favorite part about reading non-fiction about our Founding Fathers is to realize that they were only men but this book shows Madison as someone who was omniscient about what was needed to keep future men - future leaders in check and honest in running our country under the Constitution. Enjoyed it.
Madison seemed hard for me to get to know. This biography does a fine job in outlining his accomplishments and comparing him to his contemporaries, yet I never felt I got to know the man. It may be less a fault of the biographer and more an aspect of Madison himself. I am reading the Presidents in order and while this book was lighter in number of pages then some books on earlier Presidents I still found it comprehensive and interesting. On to Monroe.
Pretty good overview. Some high lights Madison was prodding, hard working and very much in the background. And Hamilton found out for the first time through this book that Hamilton wanted an imperial life-long president. Wow!
Over the past year, I've added something to my bucket list. Before I die, I plan to read at least one book on every US president, in order of the dates of their presidencies. I have read a number out of order, having read several books on Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Clinton over the past few years. But, this book on James Madison follows Chernow's Washington, McCullough's John Adams, and Ellis's Jefferson, American Sphinx.

While Brookhiser's biography of Madison provides a great historical timeline of his life, it really does not capture who Madison was. He goes to great lengths to paint a human portrait of his wife Dolley, but fails to capture anything about the personality of the "father of the US Constitution. Following the detail shown for this type of writing by Chernow and McCullough, I found this unsatisfying as if something was missing from the book.

Overall, the history is fine and the prose well written. The book itself was easy to follow and understand. But if you are a student of the psychology of leaders, this book leaves something to be desired.

For a historical perspective, this book does near 5 stars. For a complete profile of James Madison he man, it was a little disappointing.
I still don't feel like I know
Madison. The author seems to put
forward the notion that he was a mildly principled practical politician.
Maybe that's what made Madison tick,
and maybe the thesis is what the
author intended to convey. If so the
author did a good job. I finished the book with a sense that I still really don't know Madison and I'm unsure if
If there was more to the man, or as one writer posited (in The Presidents we Deserved...) Madison was a near Zero. I'm going to try to read another biography of Madison to further try to
understand if anything made him tick besides politics.
This is good biography, but rather short and not that detailed. Of course, it can't be at 250 pages.

Madison was certainly very important in the making of the Constitution, but his elevation above all others is a stretch for me. Yes, he attended the meetings at a time when delegates came and went, he was there faithfully. The author contends that the four great writers of the founding were Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and Gouvernor Morris. I disagree with that statement. John Dickinson was left out, as he usually is because he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, but prior to the revolution, Dickinson with his Letters from a Farmer was widely read and he earned the title of penman of the period. Then he claims that Hamilton was not a great writer....well, almost anyone familiar with Hamilton knows of his tremendous capability in putting his thoughts on paper on a variety of subjects.

The best of the book is that it points out that the Republicans were able to dominate the White House for a generation. With Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe serving two terms each in succession, the Republican party controlled the national government for 24 years, and effectively presided over the death of the Federalist party. As Brookhiser points out, Madison was important to Jefferson in developing party politics and was very good at it.

As for his presidency, the declaration of war against England was not popular and it even caused some in New England to consider leaving the Union and aligning with Great Britain, which would have been disastrous for America. Madison also went to war without a national bank to help with the financing, and while there were some naval victories on the Great Lakes (and even more dramatic victories on the high seas, which are largely absent from the book), the war was not a resounding success. Washington was burned by the British and Madison's selection of people in the war effort and his cabinet was disastrous. His rare exception was Albert Gallatin.

Brookhiser is a good historian, but this biography of Madison is lacking.