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71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Burrite is Pleased, December 20, 1999
This is an enormously satisfying book, one that goes farther to rescue Aaron Burr from an undeserved historical contempt than any book since Gore Vidal's elegant fiction BURR. It is still a reflex to dismiss Thomas Jefferson1s first Vice-President as a sly scheming traitor who murdered the well-beloved Hamilton in a one-sided duel where Hamilton deliberately and romantically threw away his shot.. It is all thoughtless and unscrutinized balderdash, and Kennedy has a wonderful time proving it. There are surprising and provocative ideas on every page, and fascinating portraits of the brilliant neurotic Hamilton, and the almost perfect hypocrisy and subtle genius of Thomas Jefferson. Most of all, however, is the picture Kennedy draws of the witty, graceful gentleman who was Aaron Burr. Kennedy calls him America's first professional politician, but he was far more than that. To say that he was an abolitionist or a feminist does not really do him justice; he practiced what he preached, as Kennedy amply describes, fifty, even a hundred, even two hundred years ahead of his time. His generosity was outsized, his intellect without cant or self-delusion. A scion of one of the colonies first and oldest familes, he was an honest to God Revolutionary War hero not once but many times, (unlike The Sage of Monticello, to say the least). Like Jane Austen's Gentleman, Burr never apologized and never explained. This last was a grievous mistake, because his silence, to his contemporaries and to posterity, though elegant, ceded much ground to his enemies. There was much to admire in both Hamilton and Burr, and their contemporaries did so. But Hamilton carried molten envy of Burr for many years, years during which Burr apparently had not a clue that his friend-rival-ally-competitor was viciously and continuously slandering him, sharing opinions about Burr that went beyond the norm of political rivalry, making certain that Burr would not succeed in politics even if it meant that Jefferson whom he despised, would. But Kennedy suggests that Burr was more than Hamilton's opponent; he was the man who, in almost every respect, from military heroism to family background to manners to wit to success with the ladies, Hamilton yearned to be. And everything Hamilton hated in himself, argues Kennedy, he projected on to Burr. And then there is Jefferson. It has become open season on Jefferson these last few years, and high time too. Jefferson's undoubted brilliance as a literary stylist and his extraordinary ability as a practical and cunning politician have kept him at the top of the heap for decade after decade, but perhaps there is less here than meets the eye. Kennedy is wonderful in discerning plausible motives to Jefferson's unquenchable need to destroy Burr, a man who might very well have moved up abolition1s cause by 50 years. The various accounts of back room snakiness by The Sage, and the similarity between Jefferson1s Western machinations both before and after Burr's trial for treason for the same activities(which Jefferson pushed with a Shakespearean malignity) are priceless. There are greater tragedies in American's past, I suppose, than the consignment of Aaron Burr to the Most Reviled Villain Category, but it feels terribly unjust. And the easy unscrutinized way many of our teachers and historians wave airy hands of dismissal does rankle, to say nothing of the ongoing worship of The Sage, also airy, also unscrutinized. Roger Kennedy has created a thoughtful, witty, outraged response to all that.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Burr, Some Jefferson, and a Little Bit of Hamilton, December 7, 1999
The author has amassed a lot of detail about primary figures in the early history of the United States. A fascinating read by a guy who's had a very diverse set of careers. By bringing out Burr's role in the early days of the USA the author has really made those times live again. Since many of us are taught canards in school- that Burr was a baddie and that Jefferson was a saint, it becomes very difficult to have much understanding of the finer points of early US history, this book is an antidote. By using evidence of his subject's character, the author is able to flesh out intent behind action. Occasionally the sentence structure is a bit complex but he's making sure you're getting your money's worth. A lovely passage describing the upper Mississippi river valley shows the author's ability to paint pictures of the natural world as well as that of human society. From Forrest McDonald's biography of Alexander Hamilton I always felt like I had a pretty good feel for the last 25 years of the 18th century and how my country was put together. After learning about the often dismissed alter ego of Hamilton, I have a much better feel for the personality and character of the principle individuals involved. As a principle elucidator and salesman for the Constituition and George Washington's right hand man we can give Hamilton a lot of credit for the strength and character of this nation, but it was Aaron Burr and those like him, the unique American type possesed of a certain wiliness and strength of character, that were the raw material it was formed out of.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Want History Without Halos---This Is It!, December 16, 1999
Unlike the current flood of Founding Father hagiography, Roger Kennedy's look at the fractious ties between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr gives you the sense of these characters as their contemporaries knew them. Kennedy writes the way your favorite college professor lectured---with humor and a profound grasp of how motrals act in the political trenches. His insights into the early struggle over slavery at that early stage in our history are worth the price of admission alone. Kennedy offers clearly stated conclusions on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. But the reader comes away with confidence that those opinions are come by after lengthy research and throught. If you have a friend who is addicted to early American history, this is the gift.
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