The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness

I am not a historian, but after having listened to several books about revolutionary era history and politics I found it difficult to listen to this one. Unger's Monroe almost never makes an error in judgement, is single-handedly responsible for America's post-Madison economic boom, and is heroic to all of his time. Even George Washington doesn't get this kind of hero worship - at least not in Chernow's "Washington, A Life".

That said, as a work of hero worship it is engaging and well written, and well performed by McConnohie. If historical perspective and balance is not your goal you will likely enjoy listening to it.

At the time I read it it was the only biography of Monroe on Audible so I can't suggest you to listen to a different one. However, if you're going to read it keep your skepticism on guard.

James Monroe was an important and interesting character. Unger makes him uninteresting and a saint. There are an excessive number of factual errors to add to the mix. There are several good biographies of Monroe. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. The reading is overly dramatic but it does fit the author's intent quite well.

Most of us know him merely as a name in the list of Presidents. This enlightening book shows him as so much more. He brought real change to America and set our nation on a course toward greatness. He was devoted to his family and to his country.

This book is very well written and the audio version is very entertaining as well as informative. This is one of the few books that I plan to listen to again

The prologue to Unger's book had me worried by the number of superlatives he used to describe Monroe. As I got further into the book, I realized Unger's Monroe was a saint, practically perfect in every way. I found this book to be a one-dimensional portrait of a man, not Unger's saint, whose main legacy, largely ignored by Unger, was bitter party politics (witness the election of 1824) and a refusal to address in any meaningful way the festering sore of slavery.

Excellent telling of Monroe's story! The author offers great background material. The book is well read.

A timely reminder of a great, self made patriot and world stateman. It brings into focus the courage of a young nation to defend the cause of the freedom of nations and individuals.

Thank You, Mr. Unger!

I can't believe that I was so totally unaware of the contributions of James Monroe. He has been totally eclipsed by Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, but according to Mr. Unger he may have been as instrumental as anyone in the success of the war for independence and he apparently played a large role in the Louisiana Purchase.

Without James Monroe would we even have the country we know today? It appears doubtful.

I was also unaware of the huge role he played in James Madison's administration and how successful his own two administrations were.

It is interesting that his popularity literally eliminated the two party system and may have contributed to problems in future years.

I found it a very informative read and would encourage others to learn more about James Monroe.

In this biography Harlow Giles Unger brings us a portrait of a man who few know much about today. Born in colonial Virginia Monroe was orphaned at a young age. He took on the responsibility of raising his younger siblings. When the American Revolution broke out Monroe joined up. He became an officer, was wounded at the Battle of Trenton, was decorated by Washington. He served as a Congressman, a Senator, as Governor of Virginia, and as Ambassador to the French Republic. Later he would serve as Secretary of State and Secretary of War under James Madison. He would then succeed Madison as President.

This book has its good and bad points. It is well written and should be easy for the general reader. It is quite informative and gives a good portrait of Monroe. On the downside the author tries a little to hard to build up Monroe by pulling down others around him. Monroe was a firm supporter of the French Revolution and, like Jefferson and Madison, cheered on the slaughter of the former ruling class. This is played down considerably in this book. The author also finds it necessary to try and pull down the character of both John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. Since the younger Adams was the Secretary of State during Monroe's presidency much credit is given to him for the success of the United States in that era. Unger tries to argue that Monroe was the better diplomat. The only reason that he gives is that Monroe was ambassador to France and Adams was not. He ignores the fact that Adams had been involved in Foreign service for most of his life, including a stint as the secretary and interpreter to the first US ambassador to Russia when he was a young teenager. Adams had served as Ambassador to Prussia and Russia. He had helped to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent. To dismiss his many accomplishments with a single backhanded comment was quite uncalled for.

It is a good book and is well worth reading.

According to Unger, Monroe almost single handily saved America during the War of 1812 and ushered in a post-partisan era of good-feelings. Unger describes pre-cotton slavery as a 'paternalistic' institution (with no hint of sarcasm) and provides an extremely lopsided account of US, native American wars - describing the atrocities that Native Americans committed but not those of the US.

Yet despite Unger's (very) skewed narrative, I found the book fun to listen to. He makes early America come to life in a way that more reflective biographies often fail to.

I'm in the process of devouring audiobooks on early American history. Thus far, I've listened to books on the first 4 presidents as well as Franklin (among others). This biography is the weakest I've encountered so far. The soaring horn intro and exit as well as the narrators deep and smooth voice bring to mind a campaign add. There seems to be very little objectivity or perspective on the part of the author. On the whole, I don't mind when an author openly admires a biography subject but at times this author glorifies Monroe at the expense of other figures like Madison and J.Q. Adams. The text is often trite and hyperbolic and riddled with political cliche's. If one is looking for a summary of Monroe's life with a decent summary of the first 50 years of U.S. history, it's not bad, but I wouldn't consider it a serious academic work.