You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
74 reviews for:
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
Harlow Giles Unger
3.52 AVERAGE
74 reviews for:
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
Harlow Giles Unger
3.52 AVERAGE
I really struggled to get through this book. I'm not impressed with Unger as a biographer especially when I felt attacked as a reader when he was defending Monroe as the author of the Monroe Doctrine. I have a great idea of the time, but not really Monroe as a man. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time, but really didn't do much. He takes credit for the Louisiana Purchase and also the expansion into the West. If he takes credit for the LP then Andrew Jackson should receive credit for the Western expansion. He was lucky to be POTUS during a prosperous time. The most positive I can say about him is that he truly loved his wife and his family was very important to him. I am not intrigued enough to read another biography on Monroe.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
I really liked this book because it was written in a way that was really intriguing. When you read it you can visualize Monroe’s life like a story. I loved the detail he put into covering his life before he was president too because his impact on our country is so much more than just the Era of Good Feelings like it is always portrayed. It was interesting to hear the author’s take on his failures in negotiations with England too and how it impacted his friendships with Jefferson and Madison. I also loved how much detail he put into describing Elizabeth Monroe as well. She is really interesting and definitely an unknown First Lady. His overarching theme of Monroe being the last founding father was also really captivating as you felt throughout the book and ending of an era.
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Slavery, Colonisation
informative
medium-paced
The biggest downfall of this book is the author's inability to remain objective. Monroe's faults are brushed over as though he had none.
That being said, I like the attention given to Monroe's relationship with his wife and daughters, and the many deep friendships that would eventually lead to Monroe's presidency. The parallels drawn between Washington and Monroe are also interesting.
That being said, I like the attention given to Monroe's relationship with his wife and daughters, and the many deep friendships that would eventually lead to Monroe's presidency. The parallels drawn between Washington and Monroe are also interesting.
It must be difficult to write a biography about someone without turning that person into something of a protagonist. I don't expect perfect objectivity from biographers - certainly if a person is worth writing about they probably evoke strong feelings one way or the other - but this biography blows past 'championing' James Monroe to downright trying to deify him.
The most offensive phrase, of course, is the obviously infamous 'caretaker president' quip about Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, but this book fails on more levels than that. As a biography of Monroe, it simply fails to give the character justice. Unlike some other biographies I have read, such as Joseph Ellis', this book totally fails to bring the myth of a founding father back to Earth. It manages to put him in context somewhat, by at least being well-researched, but it certainly does nothing in the way of scholarship.
Unger comes off as someone offended at Monroe's place in history who is on a crusade to reclaim and redefine the role 'people' so often relegate him to. But while Unger certainly waxes poetic on Monroe's strengths and successes, he flat out fails to give us a three dimensional human to look at at the end. Instead of a person, Monroe is portrayed in this book as a man of few faults, an almost 'deus ex machina' historical presence who is constantly underestimated and treated unfairly. If only his contemporaries would have realized his genius, then whole catastrophes of the early republic could have been avoided.
If Unger is to be believed, Monroe is simply the most important president of the early republic. However, in order to achieve this claim Unger forgives faults of Monroe while simply blaming everything on the weak characters of other men. Who won the War of 1812? Monroe. In fact, Madison wasn't even really president after about 1814. Everything positive that came out of it was thanks to Monroe. Unger also grants the successes of Jefferson's administration to Monroe, but none of its failures. Unger forgives any and all possible faults of Monroe and buries any actual criticisms in platitudes and the fact that Monroe was 'just a really nice guy.'
All of the criticisms aside, the book is impressively readable, even liberally doused with quotations as it is. Unger manages to avoid being either pedantic or dull, and tells the story of Monroe competently in its structure if it is only sort of draped with anything extra. Take this biography with a grain of salt, and for a better understanding of the say, the chasm that grew between Madison and Monroe, pick up a more competent, deeper biographer, such as Joseph J. Ellis.
The most offensive phrase, of course, is the obviously infamous 'caretaker president' quip about Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, but this book fails on more levels than that. As a biography of Monroe, it simply fails to give the character justice. Unlike some other biographies I have read, such as Joseph Ellis', this book totally fails to bring the myth of a founding father back to Earth. It manages to put him in context somewhat, by at least being well-researched, but it certainly does nothing in the way of scholarship.
Unger comes off as someone offended at Monroe's place in history who is on a crusade to reclaim and redefine the role 'people' so often relegate him to. But while Unger certainly waxes poetic on Monroe's strengths and successes, he flat out fails to give us a three dimensional human to look at at the end. Instead of a person, Monroe is portrayed in this book as a man of few faults, an almost 'deus ex machina' historical presence who is constantly underestimated and treated unfairly. If only his contemporaries would have realized his genius, then whole catastrophes of the early republic could have been avoided.
If Unger is to be believed, Monroe is simply the most important president of the early republic. However, in order to achieve this claim Unger forgives faults of Monroe while simply blaming everything on the weak characters of other men. Who won the War of 1812? Monroe. In fact, Madison wasn't even really president after about 1814. Everything positive that came out of it was thanks to Monroe. Unger also grants the successes of Jefferson's administration to Monroe, but none of its failures. Unger forgives any and all possible faults of Monroe and buries any actual criticisms in platitudes and the fact that Monroe was 'just a really nice guy.'
All of the criticisms aside, the book is impressively readable, even liberally doused with quotations as it is. Unger manages to avoid being either pedantic or dull, and tells the story of Monroe competently in its structure if it is only sort of draped with anything extra. Take this biography with a grain of salt, and for a better understanding of the say, the chasm that grew between Madison and Monroe, pick up a more competent, deeper biographer, such as Joseph J. Ellis.