Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (Library of American Biography Series) [Paperback]

James C. Curtis (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1 edition (January 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0673393348
• ISBN-13: 978-0673393340
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( J ) > Jackson, Andrew

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good interpretation of an enigmatic president, March 4, 2011

By 

Thomas A. Fenton (Walton, Kentucky, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (Library of American Biography Series) (Paperback)

James C. Curtis has produced a surprisingly good work in "...The Search For Vindication". Given that it is only 194 pages, cover to cover, and that I picked it up for 25 cents at a yard sale, I wasn't expecting a lot. I thought I had read most of what was worth reading about our seventh president, and most of it was excellent, but fairly repetitive in both content and explanation. However, Curtis' title gives a clue to his content, and that the reader will not find just a rehash of history, but also, hopefully, some insight into why this man who was paranoid, angry, lacking in formal education, and in so many other ways totally unqualified to be president is now so well regarded by historians. Not only was Jackson unqualified, he also knew he was unqualified, as he himself stated in 1816 when friends mentioned him as a candidate for president, "Do they think I am such a d----- fool! No sir, I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President." (page 78) How and why he changed his mind is part of the fascination of his story.

Whether Andrew Jackson deserves to be evaluated as highly as historians now do remains doubtful in my mind. However, thanks to Curtis' book, I now better understand why he was so angry and defensive. Much of what this author has written merely confirms my own thoughts reading other historian's accounts. (My educational degree is in Psychology.) However, there are a number of pieces of the Jackson puzzle I have seen nowhere else. There is analysis of events that is helpful, and, there is humor not related to the subject, found on page 182, quoting a reelection slogan for (7th U.S.) Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, "Rumpsey, Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson shot Tecumseh." (Perhaps I am too easily amused.)

It also says something to me about the value of this biography of Andrew Jackson in the eyes of others: the copy I bought was underlined extensively with marker, as a student would do, and a purchase receipt wedged between the pages indicating it was purchased in the book store of a local university for a class. "Text Book" might scare some readers off, but it is an indication to me that historians more knowledgeable than myself have endorsed it's content. I found it not at all boring, but, in fact, very interesting. After all, qualified or not, Andrew Jackson is recognized as having made significant contributions to the presidency and to the history and stability of the United States at a crucial time. This book helps understand the man, Andrew Jackson in all his glory, and all his shame.

Five stars

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Andrer Jackson and the Search for Vidication, November 16, 2010

By 

zach walker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (Library of American Biography Series) (Paperback)

Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication is an incisive examination of the forces that shaped Jackson's personality and the impact of the major events of Jackson's time. The United States seventh president began life in adversity.From his early childhood to his days in presidency, Andrew Jackson fueled a Revoluton in politics and the search for Vindication of the American people.

In this psychoanalytical biography of Andrew Jackson by James C. Curtis explores Jacksons tenacious personlity and lifelong quest for porwer, which was deepply rooted in his troubled past. Beiginging in the backwoods of the Carolinas, yound Andrew Jackson was born to a couple from Northern Ireland that migrated here during a time of social and economic turmoil. Arriving in the late 1760's, Jackson explored the prospective rolling countyside with the uncontrolled freedom that encouraged his wild behavior.

By the age of fourteen he was scarred by the vicissitudes of the Revolutonary War. James C. Curtis demonstrates how the anxieties implanted in Jackson early in life. His need to prove his right, his belief in cospiracies and especially his fear of death .Thies dicated his responses o the crises he cofronted as a frontier general, govenrnor, party leader, amd chef executive.

James C. Curtis emphasis is given to Jackson's obsession with honor. The pursuit of which led him to fight needless duesl, train race horses, own slaves, and sissipate the authoritry of his presidential administration. James C. Curtis sheds new light on such Jasconian causes as the formation of th Democratic Party, the removal of Indians to west of the MISSISSIppi, the Bank War, the nullificaton crisis and Texas independence from Mexico.

"I have said befor and now repeat, the world is not to be trusted," Jackson proclaimed in 1833. Many of his most energetic efforts while president reflect his self-image as "injured incence at war with the forces of corruption."

Yet despie his limite perspective and egocentric approach to national events, Jackson laidthe groundwork for the national party system, defined the conept of a strong presidency, and captivated genetation of his countrymen.

Andrew Jackson an the Search for Vindication is a significant new interpretation of the Jacksonian era.

0 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The book is a great view of Andrew Jackson, November 1, 1999

By 

Roberto Garcia Jr. ([e-mail]) (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (Library of American Biography Series) (Paperback)

This book is a great view of Andrew Jackson and his place in national history.