by Nancy Isenberg
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Product Description
This definitive biography of the revolutionary era villain overturns every myth and image we have of him.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Poor little Aaron, 2008-06-25
Poor Aaron Burr. For all of his adult life he was picked on, first in the Continental Army, then by the evil Federalists, and later even by those in his own, Republican, party. All because he was smarter, nicer, more urbane, and more progressive than they were. At every chance they were mean to him (history doesn't record whether they ever tried giving him a wedgie) and accused him of all sorts of terrible things for no good reason. And don't get me started on the worst bully of them all, Alexander Hamilton, who spent his every waking hour thinking of ways to ruin poor little Aaron, culminating in Hamilton's devious plan to trick Burr into killing him in a duel, thereby ensuring that it was his puss and not Burr's that would be on the ten dollar bill. Clever, that Hamilton.
That pretty much sums up this book. At every available chance, no matter how strained, the author goes out of her way to make personal attacks on Burr's critics and to defend - heck, to deify - him. Either Burr didn't do what the meanies said he did, or if he did do it, well, everyone else was doing it too. Is she right? Darned if I know, I wasn't there, but after a while the constant praising of Burr gets pretty annoying. Isenberg would have made a stronger case for Burr if she'd come across as at least a little bit objective, but I guess it just wasn't in her. She simply couldn't miss an opportunity to paint him as one greatest of the Founding Fathers.
What's that you say? He wasn't a Founder, great or otherwise? Well, let's see . . . Declaration of Independence? Nope, wasn't within miles; that was mostly that ingrate Jefferson's doing. Constitutional convention? No, Burr must have been busy that summer, maybe he had reservations at the shore. The ratifying convention in his own state, New York? He apparently had "other priorities," as a more recent vice-president would someday say. So why the book's title? Got me, she doesn't say. Maybe her editor just liked the alliteration.
The book contains a lot of information, about Burr of course but also about the era and the other people of it, but the deeper I got into it the harder it was to give credence to anything the author said, given how obvious she was in defending Burr and assailing his critics. The book isn't totally worthless, but I'm sure you can find some other book that's more deserving of your time.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A closer look., 2008-06-04
Much like other reviewers, I find that Isenberg's attempt at classifying Burr as a "Founder" fall a little short.
The value of this study lies in the authors research and presentation of Burr's life before his arrival on the National scene of politics. The account of Burr's early political life gives a us glimpse of a gifted, progressive lawyer and brilliant orator. A man with so much flare for the dramatic that he stood apart from his contemporaries in a day and age where bombastic debate was the norm.
With some deeper analysis we can also see that much of Burr's erratic and treachorous political maneuvering were inappropirate only for the day and age. Burr's ability to continously "play the middle" and make himself accessible to whatever faction served his interest can not help but remind us of modern politics. His progressive methods of campaigning and election strategy were foreign and seemingly "dirty" in the days of the disinterested politician. Perhaps it was Burr, more than any other character of the generation, that possesed the clairvoyance and foresight to understand what politics would become.
Isenberg's constant attempts at exonerating Burr become tiresome and at some points it appears as if the author is grasping at straws. Nowhere is this more evident than in the authors attempt at clarifying Burr's intentions and motives for his ill-fated foray in the American West. Just as Isenberg seems to uncover a legitimate argument that pardons Burr's behavior, she digs up (unintentionally) another issue that repudiates her previous attempt.
I might also add that I was disappointed in Isenberg's treatment of "the Duel". While this particualr incident has been studied ad nauseum, this book seemingly glosses over the interview at Weehawken.
Though there has been a historic "piling on" of Aaron Burr, it is not without validity. Burr fits best in his role of ideological foil to the majority of the Founding generation. His personality and behaviors do not lend themselves to the portrait of Burr as casualty of conspiracy and political martyr.
While it drags at times, this book is a pretty good read and excellent counter balance to the popular view of one of America's most fascinating villains.
I would recommend that any student of early American politics and history give this work a read.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Tedious but useful, 2008-06-02
The myth of evil Aaron Burr is not the only myth demolished here. The larger myth of our founding fathers as philosophers and statesmen of an extraordinary stature has long dominated. These men who led the American Revolution were fighting to avoid taxes and other responsibilities in the British Empire which nurtured and protected them. They were not fighting for liberty although they claimed that. As Samuel Johnson queried: whence the talk of liberty from the drivers of slaves?
Our Jeffersons and the rest were often partisan pipsqueaks, no better than Aaron Burr. They sought power and would resort to any scheme to do in their rivals and opponents. This myth of the providential and wonderful United States needs demolition and Ms. Isenberg, though her purposes are rather more narrow, has accomplished this quite well.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Should be read as part of every American History Course., 2008-05-04
That is, in conjunction with other works such as Chernow's on Hamilton. My most wasted hours in High School were the idealized histories taught about the founder's. This book, and others, tell a much more compelling story of American History that our young people should hear.
To the book itself: Burr like many of the prominent men (and women) of the late 18th Century, was ambitious. I believe the author focuses her thesis to strenuously on protraying Mr. Burr as a heroic victim (partly due to his early progressive-feminist beliefs), but this may be necessary to break the negative mind-set so ingrained in conventional history. The reader must also parse the "could have been" and "one could assume that" kind of statements where the author is conjecturing based on limited factual information. These opinions are where the "Rose-colored glasses" come in to play, however, there is compelling evidence supporting her argument without these interpretations adding dubious gloss to his reputation.
The author does a tremendous job shedding light on the early politics and rancor that that suffused our country at its birth, and set the stage for the Civil War.
Another highlight is the cavalier way in which rumor was disseminated by the press which makes one cognizant of how far Journalism has come (except, maybe, for the NY Times, and parts of the internet), and it's still great influence on the country. Imagine the impact the internet would have had on the election of 1800. It would have been interesting blogging indeed.
Overall, the factual information in the face of the conventional historical interpretation of Burr, as well as the little known actions of otherwise revered founders in all their vindictiveness, ruthlessness and greed is worth the read.
You don't have to buy into Dr. Isenberg's positive characterization of Burr to enjoy this book, but, if you truly idealize Jefferson and Hamilton, you may get a little indigestion along the way.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 You cannot make someone a hero by calling everyone else a goat, 2008-04-22
Since my basic criticism of this work has been ably represented by a number of other reviewers, there is no reason to belabor the obvious. Isenberg's attempt to give a contrarian viewpoint on Burr is botched by her obvious and blind prejudice towards her subject, resulting in an equally obvious and one-sided condemnation of every other figure of the time. You cannot raise a person by distorting facts to make everyone else look worse.
It is a shame. A revisionist biography of Burr is needed and parts of this book are quite interesting. However, I found myself more and more prejudiced against Burr, ironically, the more unfairly Isenberg trashed other actors and ignored or misused facts.
Take a copy from a library and read, but don't waste your money. And read with a high skepticism.
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