Biographies of Great Americans
There are so many outstanding biographies of famous Americans, it is impossible to do anything but recommend a few of my favorites (I'm concentrating on earlier figures in American history). All of these biographies are well-worth reading.
There are several outstanding biographies of George Washington, who is, in many ways, the greatest of all Americans. He's a true giant among the founders. Here are two of my favorite biographies of the General and first President.
McCullough's biography of John Adams is a fantastic book. For far too long, Adams was the overlooked figure among the founding fathers. McCullough's biography changed that. This book is the basis for the HBO series, John Adams--which, if you haven't seen it, you should!
Berg's biography of Woodrow Wilson is well done and an interesting account of the man who, in my opinion, should rank very near the bottom of any list of American presidents. Wilson's self-righteous progressive government (i.e., government by experts) and racist proclivities were bad enough. But the Treaty of Versailles, of which Wilson was a significant player, guaranteed a second world war. Despite my disdain for Wilson, this is an interesting biography of the man and his times.
There are a number of well-researched biographies of Abraham Lincoln, as well as volumes devoted to aspects of his career, his administration, and his role in the American Civil War. If you've not read much about Lincoln, this is a good place to start. If you have read much about Lincoln, still do not overlook this one.
This is a profound book. Guelzo is an accomplished historian, and an award-winning Lincoln biographer. In this volume Guelzo explores Lincoln's religion--as much as we can know about Lincoln's religion, given Lincoln's reluctance to speak of any personal faith. Raised a Primitive Baptist Church (Calvinistic), Lincoln's views of God's providence default to a sort of fatalism without any gospel--a gospel which Lincoln sadly rejected.
Stacy Schiff's, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, offers the reader an interesting look into the life of someone (Sam Adams) who clearly preferred to remain in the shadows. Adams would have hated a biography such as this. Given the thin extant source material this was not an easy task, but Stacy Schiff pulls it off quite nicely.
Although Sam Adams was a “behind the scenes” sort of figure, many of America’s founding fathers (such as Thomas Jefferson and Sam’s cousin John Adams) considered Sam Adams to be central figure behind the American Revolution. He was among the first to raise principled challenges to England’s crown appointed governors overseeing the colonies (evident in Adam’s perennial struggle with Massachusetts governor Hutchinson). Adams complained that the British king and parliament knew little, and cared less, about the situation on the ground in the thirteen colonies. What mattered most to the Crown was revenue and a market for British manufactured goods.
Adams lived much of his life in near poverty. While he detested the limelight, he did as much behind the scenes as anyone to insist that colonials be treated as any other British citizens. And when this looked less and less likely, Sam Adam’s vivid pen was indeed mightier than the sword. It was Sam Adams who raised the call to contemplate independence, even if Adam’s never put it openly.
Sam Adams was also behind the reports spreading throughout the colonies regarding the Boston Massacre—even as cousin John defended the soldiers who fired upon the crowd of angry citizens whom the soldiers thought threatened them. John Adams got all but two of the soldiers acquitted. Sam Adam’s fingerprints were all over the Boston Tea Party (again, he remained behind the scenes). After the Intolerable Acts, which saw England effectively shut down Boston’s Harbor to all trade and commerce, inflicting great economic hardship and pain upon the citizenry, Sam Adams made sure the new arrived Redcoats garrisoned in Boston felt the icy stares of the Bostonians reminding them that they were unwelcome guests. Adams made sure that the other colonies (especially Pennsylvania) realized that they were next to find themselves under George’s heel.
Once the Revolution began (when Adams and John Hancock barely escaped Lexington with their lives, through the aid of Paul Revere) Adams served on countless committees and worked himself nearly to death for the Continental Congress. After the Revolution was over and independence was finally realized, Adams served as governor of Massachusetts, and lived until 1803, dying an old, worn-out, and unappreciated man.
If you are interested in the American Revolution and what led up to it, you’ll enjoy Schiff’s volume.
There are a number of James Madison biographies available, but this one presents Madison in a bit different light: James-Madison: America's First Politician.
James Madison (1751-1836) is rightly known as the “Father of the Constitution,” and argued against political parties (“factions”) in the Federalist Papers. But he later worked with Thomas Jefferson to found the first major political party in America, the Democrat-Republican Party in opposition to Alexander Hamilton’s federalism.
But according to the author, Jay Cost, Madison was no mere double-minded flip-flopping politician, but rather was a skilled political thinker who served capably and tirelessly in the first congress and worked to establish effective tax laws and the Bill of Rights.
Madison sided with Jefferson against Hamilton’s national bank, but did not embrace Jefferson’s agrarian society which would not allow the United State to prepare for war with Britain over Canada and ocean-going commerce. When America did find itself at war with Britain in 1812, and despite his previous opposition to the now dead Hamilton’s concept of a national bank, Madison established his own version of a national bank to finance the war, and support internal improvements (what we would call infrastructure) which paved the way for subsequent American expansion. Concludes Cost,
Madison’s vision of republican politics stretched beyond its constitutional structure to inform the substance of public policy, and even the political psychology of the United States. The people of America expect government to accomplish big things, but to do so in a fair, evenhanded, and moderate manner, with respect for the limited power granted under the Constitution. James Madison, more than any other Founder, was the architect of this design (376).
Cost’s book is well written and gives us a fascinating look into Madison’s political skill and vision. I recommend it to you, but with a caveat: Cost’s biography of Madison’s constitutional vision painfully reminds us that it has has been lost to both major political parties, as well as upon the over-aged and vision-less individuals whom they seek to elect to lead our republic.