Martin Van Buren

America's First Politician

De: James M. Bradley

Narrado por: Paul Woodson

Martin Van Buren was one of the most remarkable politicians not only of his time but in American presidential history. The principal architect of the party system and one of the founders of the Democratic Party, he came to dominate New York—then the most influential state in the Union—and was instrumental in electing Andrew Jackson president. Van Buren's skills as a political strategist were unparalleled (he was known as the "Little Magician"), winning him a series of high-profile offices: US senator, New York's governor, US secretary of state, US vice president, and finally the White House. In his rise to power, Van Buren sought consensus and conciliation, bending to the wishes of slave interests and complicit in the dispossession of America's Indigenous population—two of the darkest chapters in American history.

This new biography of Van Buren—the first full-scale portrait in four decades—charts his ascent from a tavern in the Hudson Valley to the presidency, concluding with his late-career involvement in an antislavery movement. Offering vivid profiles of the day's leading figures (Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, DeWitt Clinton, James K. Polk), James Bradley's book depicts the struggle for power in the tumultuous decades leading up to the Civil War.

©2024 Oxford University Press (P)2024 Tantor Media

Much needed

Thank you to Mr Bradley for assuming the arduous responsibility of studying the life of a neglected figure in US history and producing such an informative, illuminating biography.

Terrific Political Biography

Martin Van Buren wasn't a great or terribly important president. His term was basically stillborn due to a financial panic that started in 1837 then eased briefly but flared up again in time to doom his re-election bid in 1840. But presidents aren't everything especially in this era where so many of the major movers and shakers never made the White House. Despite his failed presidency, Van Buren was a critical figure, essential in creating the modern Democratic Party and shaping it's policies for two decades before being toppled by the sectional politics that eventually led to Civil War.

Bradley has complete command of the politics of the era which is unusual among modern writers who seem to disdain that sort of history. There isn't a lot about VB's personal life, it's mostly politics. So if you're not into that then this may not be for you but if you're a political history junkie then you will enjoy it. I particularly like getting into significant but forgotten political episodes like Clay and Calhoun torpedoing VB's nomination for Minister to GB only to see it backfire on them and grease the skids to put him in the White House. Also loved the brief sketches of many of the major political figures of the day, not just Jackson and Clay but people like Silas Wright and William Marcy.

Paul Woodson is fairly new to me, I think this is my second listen but he is outstanding and quickly rising on my list of favorite narrators.