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Andrew Johnson: A Biographical Companion (Biographical Companions)

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This biographical guide to the life of Andrew Johnson consists of an introductory biographical sketch, short biographies of the people involved in his political and personal life, historical documents, a chronology, and a bibliography. The book consists of the articles, which are arranged alphabetically and include references to other articles in the work and to outside sources. The articles are well written and contain short explanations of each subject and a brief bio of characters of the period. The book depicts Johnson as a hard headed, self-educated man whose unwillingness to compromise his principles led him into conflict with the radical Republicans over Reconstruction, i.e. whether punishment of southern whites and catering to slaves or getting the South back on its feet were the primary objectives of the Feds. This volume treats Andrew Johnson as a complex man and a president and does a fairly good job of explaining the "sign of the times". One gets the impression from the book that to avoid the conflicts of reconstruction a 20/20 hindsite solution would have been to give the slaves a new start in the vast federal unsettled lands and a grub stake to separate them from their former owners and poor whites, thus avoiding a fight over the scraps left by the Civil War. Of course then as now, most politicans are more interested in looking out for number one, relatives and friends. Many of the problems concerning the Constitution and governing are better understood by reading this book, which is an excellent read! The editorial reviews are very consistent with the book; however, I do not agree that the book is only for the scholars. Anyone interested in how the Civil War came about would want to read "John C. Calhoun, American Portrait" by Margaret L. Coit, a Pulitzer Prize winning-biography of 1950, which has been updated and released by the University of South Carolina with some introductory comments by Clyde N. Wilson, the discerning editor of The Papers of John C. Calhoun.