Martin Van Buren

Being unable to find a regular biography on Martin Van Buren, I decided to go for this one. As far as the objective of The American President Series is concerned, I think it is an admirable goal. Not every president is worthy of being published by a modern publishing company (unfortunately), and there are many presidents who have their most modern biographies that are over 30 years old, and has been out of print for at least ten. Therefore, these shorter ones have been produced to help a reader who wants to read books about every president fill in the gaps that normal biographies may not cover.

The preface to this book is well worth the price of admission, and accurately shows why biographies can, in some respects, be better than a normal history book. They can help to show the reader context, where little can exist otherwise. It can also show that history is more than just names and dates, but that it is events that happen to people, and it is how we act to those events that shows who we are.

The actual meat of this book, however, where we actually learn all about President Van Buren, takes up the bulk of this book, and it can be somewhat disappointing. We are told a great many things about Van Buren, but I never felt like I knew him after I was finished. I expected this, but it is more the way we are told that information. The story feels rushed, with only his Presidency being given any real attention, and even then, not as much as I'd like. Often, I felt like I was eating the fast food version of a much better biography, and, much like actual fast food, the building anticipation could not be matched by the aching sense of inadequacy that this left for me once I finished. I figure that, in the end, I'd get more out of The Presidents 5 minute clip on Van Buren, than I did here. I give it a two out of five.