On this, I think, most historians are agreed. The Americans did not put the idea into his head and did not convince him he needed to get rid of it. Clearly in spite of the fact that everyone alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase wants to take credit for it, it’s pretty clear that the purchase only happened because Napoleon was eager to sell. The first concerns the Louisiana Purchase. Instead, there are three areas that I found particularly frustrating, and which I think are indicative of the faults of the bio as a whole. A man who lived off the largesse of his uncle, constantly grasping for legitimacy and aristocracy, unable (or unwilling) to build a law practice or a plantation, marrying wealth and using friends and connections to succeed.īut that, for all I can tell, is just how Monroe was, and was not what I found annoying about the biography. The fifth president comes across as thin-skinned, shallow, not a little vain, and fairly self-involved. In spite of the bias, a slim portrait of Monroe still emerges. So does he make his case? And if not, does he at least justify the book’s title? Is Monroe really the last of the founding fathers?

But you know you're in for an exceptionally wild ride when, in the introduction, the author refers to Adams, Jefferson and Madison as mere 'caretakers' and implies that Monroe was the obvious heir to Washington’s legacy.īut hey, everyone gets to have an opinion, and Unger should be no different. Like David McCullough’s John Adams and Jon Meacham’s recent book on Andrew Jackson, this new biography of Monroe is both a solid read and stellar scholarship-history in the grand tradition.Īs I’ve said in preface to reviews of other bios, I accept a level of bias in these things – because you can’t expect someone who has dedicated several years of their life to studying someone to remain objective. Mentored by each of America’s first four presidents, Monroe was unquestionably the best prepared president in our history. The country embraced Monroe’s dreams of empire and elected him to two terms, the second time unanimously. minister to France and Britain, governor of Virginia, secretary of state, secretary of war, and finally America’s fifth president.

A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751–1831) went on to become America’s first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America’s national and international durability.Decorated by George Washington for his exploits as a soldier, Monroe became a congressman, a senator, U.S. In this lively and compelling biography Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation.

John quincy adams unger