James Madison

America's First Politician

By: Jay Cost

Narrated by: Dan Woren

An intellectual biography of James Madison, arguing that he invented American politics as we know it 

How do you solve a problem like James Madison? The fourth president is one of the most confounding figures in early American history; his political trajectory seems almost intentionally inconsistent. He was both for and against a strong federal government. He wrote about the dangers of political parties in the Federalist Papers and then helped to found the Republican Party just a few years later. This so-called Madison problem has occupied scholars for ages.

As Jay Cost shows in this incisive new biography, the underlying logic of Madison’s seemingly mixed record comes into focus only when we understand him primarily as a working politician. Whereas other founders split their time between politics and other vocations, Madison dedicated himself singularly to the work of politics and ultimately developed it into a distinctly American idiom. He was, in short, the first American politician.

©2021 Jay Cost (P)2021 Basic Books

Critic reviews

“A vivid account of Madison’s energetic efforts…Cost’s book deserves high marks as a skillful study of an iconic historical figure.” (Kirkus)

"Cost effectively reconciles Madison’s well-documented contradictions...a solid intellectual biography of one of America’s most consequential founders.” (Publishers Weekly)

"In this profound and clarifying biography, Jay Cost shows how some familiar Madisonian contradictions can be reconciled by grasping that James Madison’s practice of politics was devoted to the same great cause as his theories of politics: the challenge of reconciling differences in a diverse republic. That is very much our challenge now, and this is a book with much to teach today’s America." (Yuval Levin, author of A Time to Build)

Fairly succinct, good overview of the president's life and accomplishment without a ton of fluff

Less of the authors opinion would've been nice, more interested in a straight biography leaning towards an autobiography

Very thorough

An in depth look into the political world of the founding fathers. A great read or listen for an introductory class on political theory.

A great man and President, with one failure.

He, like most of our early Presidents, saw the evil institution of slavery for what it was. Had they addressed it we might have avoided the terrible war.

Jay Cost does it again!

Jay Cost is one of the most underrated historians and political analysts of our time. This deep dive on Madison, as well as his podcast Constitutionally Speaking, is well worth your time! I really enjoyed it.

Great book

Touches on a lot of Madison that hasn’t been touched in other biographies, you get a real good sense of the man and his politics

Good Book

Straight forward, good biography for Madison's presidency in chronological prose. Makes me want to read the Federalist Papers!

Good listen

Started with the Three Lives of James Madison and just couldn’t sit through it. Found this book and gave it a listen and was thoroughly pleased.

Very good biography on Madison

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. Jay Cost did a fantastic job, researching and putting this story to paper.

A decent, but incomplete biography

The author had a clearly developed and well-articulated perspective on Madison. However, I was looking for more details on Madison’s life and not just Madison’s political thought, and I didn’t get that here.