Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician

by James M. Bradley Narrated by Paul Woodson

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Engaging and careful... [I]n facilitating the rise of [a] new democratic order, Van Buren defined his age and created our own, as Bradley's biography dutifully shows." — Adam Rowe, Wall Street Journal

"...a deeply researched and well-written biography of our eighth president..." — Washington Independent Review of Books

"A gem for students of U.S. history and politics." — Kirkus

"Strongly recommended for readers who love history. Bradley is scrupulously fair in his judgment of Van Buren." — Library Journal

"...a lively and illuminating biography of our eighth president." — Smithsonian Magazine

"Van Buren's story, masterfully recounted by Bradley, serves as a sobering reminder that the dream of simplistic, conflict-free politics is an illusion." — Law & Liberty

"...this is easily the best biography about Martin Van Buren ever written…" — Garion Frankel, The Independent

"This well-balanced treatment of Van Buren is a must-read volume for all individuals interested in examining the antebellum period of American history." — J. R. Hedtke, Choice

Kirkus Reviews

2024-10-11
The life of one of America’s first professional politicians and its eighth president.

Bradley, co-editor of the Martin Van Buren papers based at Cumberland University and adjunct history instructor at State University of New York at Albany, has written the first comprehensive biography of Van Buren in decades. He brings to life a man who today may only be known as the inspiration for theSeinfeld storyline with the fictionalized street gang the “Van Buren Boys” but who did more than perhaps anyone to professionalize politics and establish the two-party system in the United States. Bradley reveals how the aloof public speaker who could barely be heard in a chamber came to dominate New York state politics and became a main architect of the Democratic Party, along the way being elected to the U.S. Senate, the vice presidency, and the presidency amid the hurricane of antebellum politics. Bradley’s vivid descriptions of Van Buren’s political contemporaries such as John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, and James Polk add to the book’s appeal. Bradley does well to avoid attaching recency bias to Van Buren’s political machinations and associations that contributed to the lead-up to the Civil War. He also resists the temptation to deify a subject with whom he is very familiar; his literary critiques of the leaden prose of Van Buren’s autobiography and the significance of Van Buren’s book about the history of U.S. political parties reflect the balanced approach of Bradley’s auspicious debut, an enjoyable, scholarly, and valuable biography of an overlooked politician.

A gem for students of U.S. history and politics.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940190918038
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/31/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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