Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age

by John William Ward

Book Overview

Was the man who lent his name to "Jacksonian America" a rough-hewn frontiersman? A powerful, victorious general? Or merely a man of will? Separating myth from reality, John William Ward here demonstrates how Andrew Jackson captured the imagination of a generation of Americans and came to represent not just leadership but the ideal of courage, foresight, and ability.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195006992
• ISBN13: 9780195006995
• Release Date: December 1962
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

AWESOME BOOK!!!!

I love this book. Why? You should be ashamed to ask that question. BECAUSE ANDREW JACKSON IS A REAL TRUE SYMBOL FOR THIS AGE OF MANKIND, YOU MORON!!!!! Jackson understood that society back then was, indeed, a feudalistic society. But he did not knuckle under, he did not succcumb to laziness or expediency. No, he took charge of himself and rose out of poverty. He is a real man, something I look up to. He stood up for himself and took charge as an individual.

Highly relevant to an understanding of America today

This quite readable book (if you read scholarly books) is possibly more relevant today than when it was written (in 1953). The author demonstrates how the concepts of Nature, God, and Will combined in the American imagination to provide the basis for beliefs about ourselves as a nation and our place in the world. The author doesn't explicitly draw a line from then-to-now (or even then-to-1953), but you will be able to draw that line yourself if you are an observer of American culture. If you are interested in current politics or the state of the nation today, read this book; you will understand more about how we got to where we are. It is not a biography of Andrew Jackson, but rather a carefully drawn picture of his times, using him, as the titles says, as a "symbol" for his era.

Abstract but discerning

My first impression of this book was that it was nothing more than rampant ramblings of senseless quibble. Once the reader understands that this is a psychoanalytical, socio-political, cultural and philosophical study of Andrew Jackson the man, versus the times he endured, it is truly an insightful work. Touted as a man of iron-will, determination and unbound democratic principles, Jackson was a man for the ages which he represented. Praised for his efforts in the Florida Indian battles and the Battle of New Orleans against the British (and denounced by some for his disregard for orders), he nonetheless came out on top of the situation for the people and his country. He exhibited qualities of the self-made man and this is what swayed his popularity. Jackson started from humble beginnings, and with his resolve and perceptiveness, became not only President of the United States for two terms, but was also looked up to as a hero with no self-limitations.

cultural history at its best

As a self pro-claimed cultural historian, John William Ward is attempting to demonstrate how Andrew Jackson captured the imagination of the people of his time (early nineteenth century America) and how the ideals of the period were "fused" in him through symbolism and myth. Although Andrew Jackson was a political figure who served as President of the United States, this book serves a "cultural study of Jackson's time" rather than a political history of his presidency. The thesis of the book is that Jackson, "who was the age's hero in a wider sense than has been commonly realized" symbolized to the people of the United States all those things upopn which they based thier national pride. This national pride, Ward contends, rested upon three main concepts; "Nature", "Providence", and "Will". These three concepts serve as major themes in the developmnet of Ward's thesis. Ward makes a very compelling argument and thouroughly supports it throughout the book with relative evidence including a variety of newspaper articles and headlines, political cartoons, speeches, poems, songs, letters, diaries, euolgies, government documents, and historical biographies. Overall, the structure of the book, the development of the thesis as it relates to the major themes, and the way in which Ward skillfully interweaves descriptive information with analytical reasoning makes for a very clear, concise, relatively easy, and interesting read. Although this book is not a political or narative history, it is a valuable and stimulating resource for any student seeking to understand this particular period in American history.

An american original

Ward was a deep, even radical, but at the same time understated, American thinker at a time when almost all of his colleagues preferred either to play it safe or to grandstand stylistically. His books were dry and careful, but produced definitive classics of the field. Jackson is his best known, but he himself preferred his translation of Grimke. To see true American thought at work, read this book.