Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness

Title: Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
Author: Harlow Giles Unger
ISBN: 9780306818080
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2009
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Number of Pages: 400
Section: Biography & Autobiography | Presidents & Heads of State
Publisher Description: In this lively and compelling biography Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751-1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability.

Decorated by George Washington for his exploits as a soldier, Monroe became a congressman, a senator, U.S. minister to France and Britain, governor of Virginia, secretary of state, secretary of war, and finally America's fifth president. The country embraced Monroe's dreams of empire and elected him to two terms, the second time unanimously. Mentored by each of America's first four presidents, Monroe was unquestionably the best prepared president in our history.

Like David McCullough's John Adams and Jon Meacham's recent book on Andrew Jackson, this new biography of Monroe is both a solid read and stellar scholarship--history in the grand tradition.