Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

Quantity:

More Buying Choices

27 used & new from $17.50

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle Don�t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (American Presidency Series) (Hardcover)

by Larry Gara (Author)
Key Phrases: northern voters, slave power, United States, New York, New Hampshire (more...)

3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

List Price:	$29.95
Price:	$23.96 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save:	$5.99 (20%)

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Tuesday, July 14? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

13 new from $23.96 13 used from $17.50 1 collectible from $29.95

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore (American Presidency Series)

by Elbert B. Smith

4.5 out of 5 stars (4) $29.95

The Presidency of Andrew Johnson (American Presidency Series)

by Albert E. Castel

4.0 out of 5 stars (3) $29.95

Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President (Signature Series)

by Robert J. Raybach

4.4 out of 5 stars (12) $32.50

Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler (American Presidency Series)

by Norma Lois Peterson

4.6 out of 5 stars (5) $28.00

Zachary Taylor: The 12th President, 1849-1850 (The American Presidents)

by John S. D. Eisenhower

4.2 out of 5 stars (11) $14.96

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Gara does not rehabilitate Pierce's lackluster reputation. A man of "limited ability . . . overwhelmed" by the job, Pierce overcame neither personal nor politically systemic shortcomings. Devoted to the Union, but deeply insecure, he abetted proslavery forces by suborning passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The law "changed everything," in domestic politics, focusing sectional divisiveness into armed conflict in Kansas, diverting Congress, and giving rise to the Republican party. Pierce's administration did witness crucial evolution of U.S. foreign policy: the opening of Japan, expansion of trade and influence abroad and, less positively, the flowering of our fixation on Central America. An impressive interpretive synthesis, Gara's work gives scholars and general readers the best survey of Pierce's presidency available.
- Thomas E. Schott, Office of History, 17th Air Force, Sembach, Germany
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... shows Pierce as a personable politician... who lacked the vision and leadership necessary to master the events of his time." -- Choice

"The best survey of Pierce's presidency available." -- Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 232 pages
Publisher: University Press of Kansas (June 1991)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0700604944
ISBN-13: 978-0700604944
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #225,246 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
northern voters, slave power

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, New Hampshire, Great Britain, Central America, Jefferson Davis, Fugitive Slave Act, White House, Young America, Mexican War, James Buchanan, New England, Caleb Cushing, Lewis Cass, Kansas Territory, Kansas-Nebraska Act, President Pierce, Joshua Giddings, William Seward, Charles Sumner, South Carolina, State Department, Millard Fillmore, War Department, Washington Union

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 83 books:

Franklin Pierce (Presidents) by Jeff C. Young on 4 pages
Stephen A. Douglas by Robert W. Johannsen in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Fessenden of Maine by C. Jellison in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War With a New Introductory Essay by Eric Foner in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Presidential Game: The Origins of American Presidential Politics by Richard P. McCormick in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 83 books this book cites

19 books cite this book:

Divided Union: The Politics of War in the Early American Republic (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by Scott A. Silverstone on 13 pages
Race over Empire: Racism and U.S. Imperialism, 1865-1900 by Eric T. L. Love in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Presidents and the People: The Partisan Story of Going Public (Joseph V. Hughes, Jr., and Holly O. Hughes Series in the Presidency and Leadership Studies, No. 10) by Mel Laracey in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Invention of Party Politics: Federalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Constitutional Development in Jacksonian Illinois by Gerald Leonard in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Power of the American Presidency: 1789-2000 by Michael A. Genovese in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 19 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson

Discusses:

The Slave Power by Leonard Richards

Discusses:

The Approaching Fury by Stephen B. Oates

Discusses:

Invading Mexico by Joseph Wheelan

Discusses:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	57% buy the item featured on this page: The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (American Presidency Series) 3.8 out of 5 stars (4) $23.96
	11% buy Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President (Signature Series) 4.4 out of 5 stars (12) $32.50
	11% buy Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union 4.7 out of 5 stars (3) $31.31
	10% buy James Buchanan (The American Presidents) 3.7 out of 5 stars (27) $14.96

Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).

presidents(26)

american history(11)

biography(6)

james buchanan(4)

franklin pierce(4)

james k polk(4)

american presidents(4)

civil war(3)

polk(3)

presidency(3)

president(3)

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good description of the fragmentation that led to war, June 16, 2001

By	Charles Ashbacher "(cashbacher@yahoo.com)" (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The years before 1860 were a period of increasing cold war in the United States. From the perspective of over a century after the conclusion of the internal war, we tend to lose the knowledge that there was more to the separatism than the disagreement concerning slavery. While the North/South dispute over slavery was paramount, other regional differences such as the role of the frontier led to a political fragmentation that prevented any faction from being able to govern and solve the growing problems. Several new parties arose while the formerly powerful Whig party was dying. This fragmentation is the main theme of this book and Gara states it very well. With the modern emphasis on the slavery question, the other divisive forces in the nation are often overlooked, which leads to historical inaccuracy.
Gara explains in great detail how the political fragmentation prevented any real attempt to resolve the issues. One point in particular that is often ignored is the three-fifths representation. For census purposes a slave was considered to be three-fifths of a person, even though they were also property. This absurdity caused a great deal of resentment in free states, as it concentrated more political power in the slave states than the size of the free population should have allowed. This caused more representatives to be elected from the southern states, which altered the outcome of some of the votes in favor of the south. Deeply resented by many in the north, it points out the inherent absurdities of slavery and is well documented and explained.
The federal government was still largely a weak institution with most of the power held by the states. With all of these problems, it would have taken an extraordinary president to alter the course of history. Franklin Pierce was no such man, and the best that can be said is that he muddled through without any great catastrophes. More than anything else, it was his handsome, presidential appearance that earned him the white house. His rise to the presidency was largely an accident, as he was a compromise candidate after the better candidates were somehow disqualified. His administration also began on a tragic note, when one of the Pierce children was killed before the eyes of his father and mother. Being largely untested on the national political arena, Pierce also wore a colossal political tin ear, often making basic errors that made things worse.
Given all of these problems, it is surprising that the Pierce administration did as well as it did. As the author points out, his presidency is ranked somewhere above a failure, but nowhere near a success. In reading about all of the problems of the country at that time, it is hard to see where a great deal of improvements could have been made. The country was expanding rapidly and the industrial revolution with associated social changes was just beginning. Slavery was a historical anachronism, clearly in the process of being eliminated and had it not become the symbol of the rights and tradition of the southern states, it would have naturally ceased to exist. Even the ardent proponents of slavery referred to is as the "peculiar institution."
In retrospect, the forces that led to the regional split were so powerful that it is hard to envision any way that it could not have led to a civil war. Those forces were stronger than any man or political party and in this book you learn about the actions of a man who landed in a job beyond his talents and yet avoided being a total failure. Given the complexity of the circumstances, his time as president was close to the best that could have been done.

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE PIVOTAL POINT LEADING TO SECTIONALISM, March 13, 1999

By A Customer

THE AUTHOR, LARRY GARA, SETS THE STAGE FOR FRANKLIN PIERCE'S EMERGENCE TO THE PRESIDENCY BY DELVING INTO THE POLITICAL SURROUNDINGS OF THE 1840'S AND '50S. PIERCE WAS AN OBSCURE CONGRESSMAN WHO SAID NO TO BECOMING PRESIDENT. HIS WIFE SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION.THE FAMILY EXPERIENCED THE TRAGIC DEATHS OF FAMILY MEMBERS AND PIERCE DRANK A LITTLE TOO MUCH. THE FAMILY PROBLEMS WERE ENOUGH, BUT BECAUSE CONGRESS' VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCY BEING THE PERSON WHO EXECUTED CONGRESS' WISHES, THE TRUE LEADERS OF THE TIMES COULD NOT GET ELECTED. FACTIONS ABOUND!! THE NEW YORK HARDS AND SOFTS, DEMOCRATS AND WHIGS, THE NEW REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT, FREE SOIL, THE NATIVISTS AND MANY MORE SPLINTERED GROUPS THAT CAUSED SETIONALISM. THERE WERE NO MAJORITIES. PIERCE WAS DOOMED TO FAILURE. IF YOU ENJOY AMERICAM POLITICS OF THE 19TH CENTURY THIS BOOK WILL PROVIDE GREAT INCITE.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Review of Gara's Pierce biography, January 21, 2000

By	Willard D. Bartlett "bartlett@email.chop.edu" (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This is very dry reading. As well, there is almost no mention of Pierce! Instead, the author focuses on the issues/characters that shaped the times. These are crucial to understanding the political atmosphere surrounding Pierce's presidency, but a biography should focus on the individual. We learn next to nothing about Pierce.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 4 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars FP
Great book about a forgotten president. Glad people are writing these because it explains a lot about our history. Small print, though.

Published 7 months ago by Daniel Joyce

› See all 4 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
politics Conservatives are idiots.	489	30 seconds ago
politics Report the trolls.	23	8 minutes ago
politics Forced Abortions, Mass Sterilizations! Only in Obamaland!	75	22 minutes ago
history What if Israel ceased to be. . . ?	46	25 minutes ago
history What was the Worst Military Defeat in History?	2	46 minutes ago
biography What are some of the best biographies of women you've ever read.	45	7 hours ago
biography what is the best biography you've ever read?	399	13 hours ago