James Madison

A bestselling historian examines the life of a Founding Father.
Renowned historian and social commentator Garry Wills takes a fresh look at the life of James Madison, from his rise to prominence in the colonies through his role in the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the first Constitutional Congress.
Madison oversaw the first foreign war under the constitution, and was forced to adjust some expectations he had formed while drafting that document. Not temperamentally suited to be a wartime President, Madison nonetheless confronted issues such as public morale, internal security, relations with Congress, and the independence of the military. Wills traces Madison's later life during which, like many recent Presidents, he enjoyed greater popularity than while in office.
Garry Wills is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and cultural critic, and a professor of history at Northwestern University. A recipient of the National Book Award, his many books include "Lincoln at Gettysburg," "Reagan's America," "Witches and Jesuits," and a biography of Saint Augustine. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
Series editor Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. is arguably the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he has been a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He served as special assistant to John F. Kennedy; won two Pulitzer Prizes for "The Age of Jackson" (1946) and "A Thousand Days" (1966); and in 1998 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, "A Life in the Twentieth Century," in 2000.
A "New York Times "Notable Book
The eternal conundrum about James Madison--a key framer of the U.S. Constitution, a formidable political figure, and a man of penetrating analytical intellect and tremendous foresight--is why, when he became chief executive, did he steer the ship of state with such an unsteady hand? Why was this man, whose pre- and post-presidential careers contributed so significantly to the future course of American political history, so lackluster and ineffectual in his tenure as president?
In this concise and readable examination of Madison's life and career, Garry Wills outlines the confluence of unfortunate circumstance, misplaced temperament, and outright poor judgement that bogged down Madison's presidency. Though a brilliant theoretician and effective legislator and collaborator, he was not a natural leader of men, and the absence of leadership was keenly felt during wartime. In fact, the War of 1812 was the first foreign war fought under the Constitution, and Madison was forced to adjust many of the assumptions he had made during the drafting of that document. He had to confront hard, practical issues such as public morale, internal security, relations with Congress, and the independence of the military. Though now remembered in part for fleeing the capital as it was under siege, Madison saw his administration come close to a close with his popularity on the rise.
Madison's later life, neatly traced by Wills, was also of consequence. For two decades after he left office, he remained tightly bound to the political life of the nation, happily playing the role of popular elder statesman, curiously prefiguring so many of our recent presidents.
"Provocative . . . Wills's stimulating biography offers us a compelling reason to reconsider the presidency of James Madison."--James F. Simon, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Madison's presidency is the most neglected part of his brilliant career, since he was a great constitutionalist but not a great president. Yet it was a presidency interesting in itself, for the waging of the first war under the Constitution, and the problem of putting together the genius of political science and the feckless commander in chief is endlessly fascinating."--Garry Wills on James Madison
" Madison] had already composed a brilliant defense of religious liberty, played a pivotal role at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and made an indispensable contribution to a series of essays ("The Federalist") that served as foundational documents on the United States' constitutional democracy. But it is Madison as the nation's fourth president (1809-17) that is the subject of Garry Wills's short, finely written biography, and his achievements as chief executive are comparatively meager. 'How a man could be so shining in certain aspects of his life and so shadowed in another is not a question often asked, ' writes Wills. He not only poses the question but makes his answer the provocative focus of his book . . . Wills's stimulating biography offers us a compelling reason to reconsider the presidency of James Madison."--James F. Simon, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Short and provocative . . . Wills] presents an evaluation of Madison's successes and failures, finding both . . . And what is it that allowed Madison to be so great a constitutionalist and so poor a President? Wills argues that it was provincialism and naivete: What Madison had learned from the great minds by reading books allowed him to understand political theory better, perhaps, than anyone else. But without greater worldly experience, even Madison could not operate the levers of power that he himself designed. Yet as Wills aptly concludes, 'Madison did more than most, and did some things better than any. That is quite enough.'"--Carl T. Bogus, "The Nation"
"Wills's book is the first volume to appear in the new American Presidents series edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Wills is amazing. He works fast and has the most remarkable range of any writer I know of working in America today . . . He has the admirable ability to read rapidly through masses of material, as he did in preparing this book, and to extract crucial n0 facts from this material and then give those facts his own provocative spin . . . Wills c