JACKSON: THE IRON WILLED COMMANDER

I received a copy of JACKSON: THE IRON-WILLED COMMANDER by Paul S. Vickey, PhD, from Thomas Nelson, via BookSneeze.  It is from The Generals, a series edited by Stephen Mansfield.  I have been interested in President Andrew Jackson since my student teaching assignment in a fifth grade classroom.  The students were learning about him and needed to write a poem, so I knew some tidbits, but this book took him into a new light.   From school, I had developed a dislike for him.  The fifth-grade textbook portrayed him as a man who drove the Native Americans off their land.  This biography made him out to be much more than that. 

The biography reads easily, like a novel, and spans his birth through his death.  I was disappointed in how few pictures were included, but otherwise discovered delight in the chapters.  President Jackson became a breathing man for me, rather than a distant figure in history.  Dr. Vickey shows both his good and bad sides, well-rounding him to the reader.  I enjoyed the usage of quotes and descriptions, as well as citations, reminding me of how it is fact and not fiction.  I highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about Andrew Jackson’s life, as well as to any history buff.