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Library of American Biography
Andrew Jackson & the Search for Vindication
Book by Curtis, James C.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
41 people want to read
About the author
James Campbell Curtis
3 books3 followersJames C. Curtis is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Delaware.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 2, 2025
I'm an Andrew Jackson fan. Plain and simple. I have a hard time rating *any* Jackson book as less than 5 stars, and this one was perfectly fine.
This book may have been short, but it had an interesting outlook. Published in the same time frame as Remini's 3 volume masterpiece, Curtis's little book takes a more critical and (for good or ill) psychological vision of Jackson's activities. He looks at some of Jackson's childhood and tries to expand this into a few more "why"s of Jackson's later life. His search for Vindication, thus, is tied to an emptiness that Jackson tries to fill. Curtis is somewhat consistent throughout his analysis, however, and provides (as a percentage of pages) a reasonable amount of content on Jackson's early life. In the first chapter, he explains in more detail what happened to make Jackson fatherless than most larger biographies (including Remini's 3 volume work). While I don't like historical psychology, Curtis did ok with it and at least laid out a reasonably good argument for his theory.
At the same time, he hit most of the typical marks of the Jacksonian biography (i.e. Tennessee lawyer/judge, militia/military general, governor of the territory of Florida, senate run, presidency including the Eaton scandal, bank bill, Indian removal/genocide, tariffs, and a short bit on post-presidency). It does not surprise in terms of which information is provided, and it looks at many of the same original source documents as Remini's. Because it's a good overview with a balance of information from Jackson's timeline, I'd say it'd be a really good first Jackson book, especially if you're not completely married to a requirement that Jackson is the hero.
Throughout, Curtis maintains a very readable structure and a coherent, consistent viewpoint that Jackson did what he thought was right and was searching for people to love him. It's interesting, and I say it complements other opinions and outlooks on the Jacksonian era. I am not sure how it would stand alone if you weren't already inured in Jacksonism, but to me it was reasonably detailed given the size of the book itself. It's probably a good starter book, though it will get you off on a more negative viewpoint of Jackson than many other and older books will give you. I'd say it is potentially even more negative than Meacham's American Lion, but I think Curtis's historical psychology is a bit more consistent.
This book may have been short, but it had an interesting outlook. Published in the same time frame as Remini's 3 volume masterpiece, Curtis's little book takes a more critical and (for good or ill) psychological vision of Jackson's activities. He looks at some of Jackson's childhood and tries to expand this into a few more "why"s of Jackson's later life. His search for Vindication, thus, is tied to an emptiness that Jackson tries to fill. Curtis is somewhat consistent throughout his analysis, however, and provides (as a percentage of pages) a reasonable amount of content on Jackson's early life. In the first chapter, he explains in more detail what happened to make Jackson fatherless than most larger biographies (including Remini's 3 volume work). While I don't like historical psychology, Curtis did ok with it and at least laid out a reasonably good argument for his theory.
At the same time, he hit most of the typical marks of the Jacksonian biography (i.e. Tennessee lawyer/judge, militia/military general, governor of the territory of Florida, senate run, presidency including the Eaton scandal, bank bill, Indian removal/genocide, tariffs, and a short bit on post-presidency). It does not surprise in terms of which information is provided, and it looks at many of the same original source documents as Remini's. Because it's a good overview with a balance of information from Jackson's timeline, I'd say it'd be a really good first Jackson book, especially if you're not completely married to a requirement that Jackson is the hero.
Throughout, Curtis maintains a very readable structure and a coherent, consistent viewpoint that Jackson did what he thought was right and was searching for people to love him. It's interesting, and I say it complements other opinions and outlooks on the Jacksonian era. I am not sure how it would stand alone if you weren't already inured in Jacksonism, but to me it was reasonably detailed given the size of the book itself. It's probably a good starter book, though it will get you off on a more negative viewpoint of Jackson than many other and older books will give you. I'd say it is potentially even more negative than Meacham's American Lion, but I think Curtis's historical psychology is a bit more consistent.
February 13, 2025
Pretty good. In this book you take a deep dive into the mind of Andrew Jackson, and you can see why he grows up being so irate.
Most of this book I found is explaining Jackson’s veto the second bank. It also talks a lot about South Carolinian farmers worrying about the abolition of slavery. Most of it takes place in the 1820s-1830s.
I wish the book talked more about 1812, as New Orleans and Tippecanoe were just briefly mentioned in the opening chapters.
4.1/5
Most of this book I found is explaining Jackson’s veto the second bank. It also talks a lot about South Carolinian farmers worrying about the abolition of slavery. Most of it takes place in the 1820s-1830s.
I wish the book talked more about 1812, as New Orleans and Tippecanoe were just briefly mentioned in the opening chapters.
4.1/5
September 12, 2011
This is an interesting book in the life of Andrew Jackson with a psychological approach. Even though it may leave some facts out that you might want to know it does give some basis for how he acted during his life time.
September 15, 2015
history is more interesting now than school days.................read at thousand trails in hershey penn
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews