The Rise of Andrew Jackson

Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics

By: David S Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler

Narrated by: Molly Parker Myers

The story of Andrew Jackson's improbable ascent to the White House, centered on the handlers and propagandists who made it possible

Andrew Jackson was volatile and prone to violence, and well into his forties his sole claim on the public's affections derived from his victory in a thirty-minute battle at New Orleans in early 1815. Yet those in his immediate circle believed he was a great man who should be president of the United States.

Jackson's election in 1828 is usually viewed as a result of the expansion of democracy. Historians David and Jeanne Heidler argue that he actually owed his victory to his closest supporters, who wrote hagiographies of him, founded newspapers to savage his enemies, and built a political network that was always on message. In transforming a difficult man into a paragon of republican virtue, the Jacksonites exploded the old order and created a mode of electioneering that has been mimicked ever since.

Critic reviews

"A revealing...account of what the authors see as the first 'modern' presidential campaign."—Washington Times

"The Heidlers tell an engrossing story that covers a remarkably complex history in relatively few pages. It is a true page-turner."—New York Journal of Books

"An admirable study of the varied political forces that ensured Jackson's presidential triumph and secured his place in early United States history. Readers will find in The Rise of Andrew Jackson all the political intrigue and drama an election brings."—Claremont Review of Books

"This lively and insightful read teaches the reader nearly as much about today's politics as it does about those of the 1820s."—Publishers Weekly,starred review

"This insightful history book is the definitive account of an amazing political era in American history and an amazing president.... With their unmatched scholarly credentials, the Heidlers show how President Andrew Jackson shaped the modern American politics that resonates even today. Both scholars and laypeople will benefit from this meticulously researched book that fills a big hole in the scholarship on American history."—Washington Book Review

"A superb chronicle of one of America's first 'modern' political organizations and national campaigns."—Booklist, starred review

"The Heidlers are careful interpreters of contemporary politics, deftly limning the issues surrounding Southern sectionalism and parsing the differences that underlay the electoral battles between John Quincy Adams and Jackson and their claims to be true heirs to the revolutionary tradition of the Founders... A thoughtful survey."—Kirkus Reviews

"The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 was a victory for the hero of New Orleans but also for an emerging form of popular politics. David and Jeanne Heidler tell the story of both with verve and insight. At a moment when Jacksonian analogies are rife, their book couldn't be more timely."—H.W. Brands, New York Times bestselling author of The General vs. The President

"Many thoughtful citizens feared that Andrew Jackson's election in 1828 spelled the death of the Republic, and this book shows why. Written with verve and conviction, it shows how Jackson's handlers first mastered the trick of packaging a volatile character with a checkered history into an irresistible presidential candidate. In The Rise of Andrew Jackson, David and Jeanne Heidler have given us both an eye-popping story and a sober lesson for our time."—Daniel Feller, University of Tennessee, editor of The Papers of Andrew Jackson

A very interesting ancillary history/biography

I listened to this shortly after completing Meacham's Jackson biography. I am not some kind of expert in the antebellum age, but the Meacham biography left me interested in something more about Jackson, and this looked good. The title is a good reflection on the subject, which is primarily Jackson's political junto (for lack of better term). The title and write up make it seem a bit more scandalous than the substance supports, at least from our modern perspective. But perhaps that's the point of the subtitle "...the Making of Modern Politics."

The authors are skeptical of Jackson, but do eventually give him some due. It's just as much a manipulation to refer to the battle of New Orleans as a 30 minute ordeal as to suppose that his having succeeded there implied his qualification for the presidency. Fortunately, such transparent overstatements fade after the opening of the book. For anyone more interested in either the times or Jackson, this is a good read/listen, but I wouldn't see it as a primary biography or anything of that sort.

A couple of cautions. (1) The first chapter or two are bouncy in time and topic and a bit harder to follow than I expected...but this gets easier. (2) The narrator has really excellent enunciation, but has a tendency to bounce back between the affectation of an actress reading copy for a television commercial and the more dry tones of the lady talking from my iPhone. Fortunately, this too gets more even and better after the first chapter or two.

I'd be happy to read/listen to anything written by these guys that grabbed my attention or from this reader.