I finished listening too American Lion. This picture from an audio/cd on amazon has a different reader, the one I got from the library was read by Richard McGonagle...I like his voice. Some other readers voices distract me from the book.
I enjoy American History, and this book combined not only recorded history but also melded together with personal letters to, from and about Andrew Jackson for a detailed look at the personality of Andrew Jackson and his relationships with dozens of people - family and political.
Things are still the same today as the 1820's: many of the same political issues, and even gossip, mudslinging, and adulterous scandal.
My own question is the same as always, how can any deeply religious person be proactive about slavery? The only answer I can surmise is "Let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her".
How could we know if we were born in that day, raised with slaves, depended on their slavery for income on our crops, that we would also not be able to recognise the dichotomy between slavery and a nation's declaration that "...all men are created equal..."?
Bullies and tyrants need love too?
Thankfully people who had sense stood forward and repaired that injustice.
I enjoyed the entire book; a verbal picture painted of a great leader, a man who felt strongly in his beliefs, and applied those beliefs to the best of his abilities in every situation.
In his end he understood equality.
