Martin Van Buren : The Romantic Age of American Politics (Signature Series)

It is hard to tell how a man will do as President based on his experience. Some figures with virtually no political experience became good Presidents, such as Washington and Lincoln; others were failures such as Grant or Hoover. On the other hand, political experience is no guarantee of success: John Quincy Adams and James Buchanan had decent resumes going into office and had miserable presidencies. Martin Van Buren, one of the most politically talented of all Presidents, was not an utter failure, but he didn't shine in office either.In Niven's biography, we follow Van Buren from his impoverished roots through his rise in New York state government. Although not perfect, Van Buren had enough political astuteness and the right sort of temperment to help create and lead a party machine and elevate New York's prominence on a national level. Becoming a trusted advisor to Andrew Jackson and a member of his cabinet eventually led to his Vice Presidency and then the Presidency. With a major financial crash occurring right as he got into office, Van Buren was struggling right off the bat, and wound up serving only a single term; nonetheless, in an era of one-term presidents (from 1837 to 1861, no president was re-elected), Van Buren was hardly thrown into ignonimy after his defeat; instead, he remained a powerful member of the Democratic party for the next two decades.Niven's biography is generally favorable although he doesn't hide Van Buren's flaws. We learn of a man who was not a great ideologue but was one of the most masterful politicians of his era, holding his own with the often more prominent figures such as Jackson, Calhoun, Clay and Webster. He also wound up being a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement, even running on the Free-Soil ticket at one point.At times, however, this biography is a bit ponderous and often focuses so much on the political part of Van Buren's life that the personal part is pushed aside. Thus, although this may be the best Van Buren biography available (it may also be the only one), I cannot give it a full five stars. Nonetheless, this is overall a very good book and worth reading if you are interested in this period of history.

This is an excellent book in terms of being very thorough and giving a reasonably balanced view of the subject; if I disagree with the author to the extent that he considers it a compliment to call Van Buren "The Father of American Party Politics" (which he certainly was) and I do not, that's a minor quibble; he gives sufficient information to enable the reader to make up his own mind on the subject, even if he disagrees with the author, which is a very important factor in rating any biography.Unfortunately, either the author or perhaps the editor of this edition (having not read previous editions, I'm unable to assess the source of the problem) has created a rather sloppily-written book; in addition to the occasional poor choice of words ("pouring over a labored digression", rather than "poring", for instance) there are numerous (at a guess, I'd say over a dozen, and possibly many more) instances in which a comma is completely misplaced, at such an odd point in a sentence that it becomes seriously distracting. ("...Van Buren wrote out in his sprawling, hand a brief, arguing specifically against the project.") Some might consider this a quibble that is truly picking at nits, but I expect better of a professional, scholarly work. This is the kind of thing that I might be willing to overlook in a mass-market paperback, and I would certainly shrug off if it happened once or twice even in a tome of this sort, but a dozen or more times in a book is not a slip of the typing finger, it is a matter of sloppy writing and proofreading. If I were to ignore the sloppinesses, I would rate this book five stars; it is a first-rate history but I do wish that it had been better edited.

Van Buren is a misunderstood Presidency. Paling in the shadow of Jackson, Van Buren's accomplishments in not going to war, elaborating on the Jacksonian persuasion, and creating the Modern Party system, while then advocating for Union and against Slavery in his later life are overlooked. I would gather due to the southern sentiment in this nation.

I was disappointed with this book, perhaps in part because I was disappointed by what I learned of Van Buren. I had always held Van Buren to be at once wily politician and militant democrat ever battling for expanded suffrage and a place for the masses at the table. But though Van Buren lived in the romantic age, he was in truth no idealist. He may have built the modern mass party system, but he was no champion of the common man. His one heroic act was an 1848 break with the doughface New York Hunkers and run for President on the Free Soil ticket. Otherwise - Amistad, gag rule, Hoover-like paralysis at onset of economic crisis - his was not a stellar record.Niven's book is the definitive work on Van Buren. It is a rather amazing collection of fact and detail. Here you can read about every discussion and dispute he had with nearly every politician over fifty years - a veritable encyclopedia of the little magician's political life. What is lacking is analysis. Some histories tend to be over-analytical: you just wish the author would get on with the narrative and let you be the judge. Here we have the opposite: detail but precious little judgment. The author, for example, makes repeated reference to Van Buren's strong Jeffersonian convictions. He does not elaborate. I got through this seven hundred page tome with still but a vague idea of Van Buren's place in history.I hope this critique does not dissuade readers from tackling this book. It is worthwhile, though wading through can be onerous. Required is a disciplined reader. There is some reward for completing.

It’s dense, but the detail gives you an amazing look into not only federal politics, but NY state politics. By the end you will understand that MVB was an amazing human being who helped this country with his intellect, hard work and good heart