The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President

James Madison is mostly remembered as being president during the War of 1812, in which the British burned the White House. Yet most people do not get a full picture of Mr. Madison. This new biography by Professor Noah Feldman hopes to rectify that. This biography might seem a bit dense for the average reader. He spends a lot of time analyzing decisions that Mr. Madison made and the writings that he wrote, especially around the ratification of the Constitution. And that’s great for scholars, and especially college students, who I feel are the real audience for this monograph. But Mr. Feldman gives us an in-depth portrait of James Madison, mostly focusing on his career after the Revolutionary War started. What really makes this stand out–and is something you notice in academic journals, especially in law journals–is that each chapter has a short argument that summarizes the chapter. This addition, something you do not see in history books, is a welcome one as it allows a researcher, or a student, looking for specific information on a particular part of Mr. Madison’s life to find what they are looking for without having to read the entire book.