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James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity Paperback – March 15, 1990
| Harry Ammon (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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A biography of James Monroe who became the fifth president of the United States in 1816. Ammon recreates his remarkable career, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, to his exertions in James Madison's cabinet and his subsequent presidency.
- Print length706 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity of Virginia Press
- Publication dateMarch 15, 1990
- Dimensions6 x 1.62 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100813912660
- ISBN-13978-0813912660
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This monumental survey of James Monroe's life and career is exhaustively researched and documented, a work of patient and perceptive scholarship that sheds a good deal of light on the politics and personalities of the early American Republic.
(Publishers Weekly)"From Monroe's birth on the Virginia Tidewater, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, the United States Senate, and as governor of Virginia, to his diplomatic missions, exertions in Madison's cabinet, and presidency, we now have a detailed authoritative recording of that remarkable career.. One feels sure that we now have, for a long time to come, the book on Monroe to which all will turn.
(Ralph Ketcham Virginia Magazine of History and Biography)Review
"This monumental survey of James Monroe's life and career is exhaustively researched and documented, a work of patient and perceptive scholarship that sheds a good deal of light on the politics and personalities of the early American Republic.
"From Monroe's birth on the Virginia Tidewater, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, the United States Senate, and as governor of Virginia, to his diplomatic missions, exertions in Madison's cabinet, and presidency, we now have a detailed authoritative recording of that remarkable career.. One feels sure that we now have, for a long time to come, the book on Monroe to which all will turn.
Review
""This monumental survey of James Monroe's life and career is exhaustively researched and documented, a work of patient and perceptive scholarship that sheds a good deal of light on the politics and personalities of the early American Republic. "―author of Publishers Weekly
""From Monroe's birth on the Virginia Tidewater, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, the United States Senate, and as governor of Virginia, to his diplomatic missions, exertions in Madison's cabinet, and presidency, we now have a detailed authoritative recording of that remarkable career.. One feels sure that we now have, for a long time to come, the book on Monroe to which all will turn. "―Ralph Ketcham, author of Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
About the Author
Harry Ammon is Professor Emeritus of History at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He is also the author of The Genet Mission (1973).
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Product details
- Publisher : University of Virginia Press; Reprint edition (March 15, 1990)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 706 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0813912660
- ISBN-13 : 978-0813912660
- Item Weight : 2.24 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.62 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #992,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,234 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)
- #2,830 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History
- #2,890 in US Presidents
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Despite the quality of the writing, I still enjoyed the book. Although some information was missing, it still contained a wealth of information about this man and the era in which he lived. But more importantly I was impressed by the extraordinary decency of Monroe. To me he is the Harry Truman of the Founding Fathers – highly intelligent but not given to pondering abstract concepts as were his predecessors. Instead he was driven more by the development of the practical means for implementing the objectives of the nation as defined by those abstract concepts. Like Truman he was a very congenial man but he did not possess the overpowering presence of his predecessors, he, however, did possess a work ethic and a devotion to the country and to morality equal to any of his predecessors. Almost everyone knows the Monroe Doctrine, that is, that the United States would not tolerate European countries interfering with the independent governments in the Americas and that it declared that North and South America were no longer open to colonization, but I was unaware of the other many accomplishments of this man, one example is that his presidency was defined as the “Era of Good Feelings”. In the last paragraph of the book, John Quincy Adams, lists Monroe’s many accomplishments and ends with this statement, “Thus strengthening and consolidating the federative edifice of his country’s union, till he was entitled to say, like Augustus Caesar of his imperial city, that he found her built of brick and left her constructed of marble.”
Ammon really had to be a good writer to make this book work. Transitions are smooth, paragraphs are clearly laid out, and the chapters are divided well. The book has a couple weaknesses. Ammon assumes the reader has a fairly thorough background to begin with. Names are sometimes brought into the text without an explanation of prior context. Another weakness is that Ammon gives short shrift to the role of slavery in Monroe’s personal life. Given the limited personal information available on Monroe, this book is primarily a political biography and in that context Ammon spends quite a bit of time explaining the politics of slavery and Monroe’s place in that debate. That is covered in some detail. But I wish the book had at least a portion of a chapter on just how much slavery was a personal factor in Monroe’s life. Given how Monroe tried to make a living, it had to have been huge. In a few instances Ammon mentions that slaves and slavery factored into Monroe’s financial problems with his farm and other holdings. It is hard to tell if Ammon had much more available to work with in the specific instance of Monroe. In any case, the reader has to be content with the politics of slavery.
Aside from these issues, Ammon’s biography of Monroe will give the reader enormous amounts of information about war and politics in Monroe’s lifetime. The book is a tour de force on this president. Monroe did not have the mind of Jefferson or Madison, but he was reflective and careful in all his decisions. Ammon spells this out well. I recommend the book for anyone interested in this period of American history and who has the time to read this dense but well-written book. It is a detailed picture of the world as Monroe saw and experienced it.
James Monroe was a President that I knew a little bit about, but I had never read a full biography of him. A bit player in the American Revolution - he fought under Washington at Trenton and was wounded in action - he enjoyed a long political career as a governor, Senator, diplomat, and cabinet secretary before being elected President in 1816. While I now know a lot more about his long life than I previously did, I must say this book didn't change my opinion a great deal: Monroe was a wholesome, bland, and rather boring person who still managed to live a pretty interesting life. One thing the book pointed out that I knew but had never really thought about: Monroe was the first American president to serve in a time of international peace and tranquility. Every previous President had to deal with the wars and conflicts that followed the French Revolution in 1789, but Monroe's term was marked by a return of peace to Europe, which gave America a chance to forge its own destiny and, as the title implies, find its national identity. Overall, dry and LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG but informative book about a rather dry, long-lived American politician. 3.5/5
Top reviews from other countries
In this book we see Monroe in success and in failure, with good friends, including Jefferson and Madison, and those in the roles of opponents and enemies. We see him in good health and suffering its absence, studious with a library of three thousand books. We see his world, with contention between France and England, between US Republicans and Federalists. These few glimpses of the many incidents, personalities, achievements of a remarkable life suggest the high quality of this book, one very worthy of the highest recommendation.
Maintenant j'ai trouvé le livre un peu inégal (question d'intérêt peut-être sur certaines périodes?), pas toujours très vivante même si j'ai par moment été captivé, en particulier ses fonctions d'ambassadeur en France ou la fin de sa présidence et la montée de l'affrontement autour de la question de l'avenir de l'esclavage.


