James Madison
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Average rating3.5
A vivid portrait of the "Father of the Constitution" James Madison led one of the most influential and prolific lives in American history, and his story--although all too often overshadowed by his more celebrated contemporaries--is integral to that of the nation. Madison helped to shape our country as perhaps no other Founder: collaborating on the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights, resisting government overreach by assembling one of the nation's first political parties (the Republicans, who became today's Democrats), and taking to the battlefield during the War of 1812, becoming the last president to lead troops in combat. In this penetrating biography, eminent historian Richard Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of the "Father of the Constitution," an accomplished yet humble statesman who nourished Americans' fledgling liberty and vigorously defended the laws that have preserved it to this day.
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A concise overview of what Madison did. As another reader has noted, not so much insight (via personal documents) as to why. But this book definitely offered insight into the beginnings of the party system, early Constitutional challenges, and so on.
Very accessible biography of the political life of James Madison. I felt like I got a good sense of Madison's contributions to the Federalist papers (interesting to see the contrast with Chernow's Hamilton), his feelings on the Jefferson embargo, and of course, how the war of 1812 was handled.
