Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times
Audible Logo Your audiobook is waiting!
Enjoy a free trial on us
$0.00
  • Click above for unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
  • One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection — yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
  • You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
  • $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.
Learn more about membership
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
List Price: $34.29
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

H.W. Brands (Author), John H. Mayer (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 747 ratings
See all formats and editions

The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.

The most famous American of his time, Andrew Jackson is a seminal figure in American history. The first “common man” to rise to the presidency, Jackson embodied the spirit and the vision of the emerging American nation; the term “Jacksonian democracy” is embedded in our national lexicon.

With the sweep, passion, and attention to detail that made The First American a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a national bestseller, historian H.W. Brands shapes a historical narrative that’s as fast-paced and compelling as the best fiction. He follows Andrew Jackson from his days as rebellious youth, risking execution to free the Carolinas of the British during the Revolutionary War, to his years as a young lawyer and congressman from the newly settled frontier state of Tennessee. As general of the Tennessee militia, he put down a massive Indian uprising in the South, securing the safety of American settlers, and his famous rout of the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 made him a national hero.

But it is Jackson’s contributions as president, however, that won him a place in the pantheon of America’s greatest leaders. A man of the people, without formal education or the family lineage of the Founding Fathers, he sought as president to make the country a genuine democracy, governed by and for the people. Jackson, although respectful of states’ rights, devoted himself to the preservation of the Union, whose future in that age was still very much in question. When South Carolina, his home state, threatened to secede over the issue of slavery, Jackson promised to march down with 100,000 federal soldiers should it dare.

In the bestselling tradition of Founding Brothers and His Excellency by Joseph Ellis and of John Adams by David McCullough, Andrew Jackson is the first single-volume, full-length biography of Jackson in decades. This magisterial portrait of one of our greatest leaders promises to reshape our understanding of both the man and his era and is sure to be greeted with enthusiasm and acclaim.

Look for H.W. Brands's other biographies: THE FIRST AMERICAN (Benjamin Franklin), THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION (Ulysses S. Grant), TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS (Franklin Roosevelt) and REAGAN.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    25 hours and 57 minutes
  2. Author
    H.W. Brands
  3. Narrator
    John H. Mayer
  4. Audible release date
    September 30, 2005
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B000CQK03O
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
Next page

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible audiobook with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $12.99 after you buy the Kindle book.

Product details

Listening Length 25 hours and 57 minutes
Author H.W. Brands
Narrator John H. Mayer
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date September 30, 2005
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B000CQK03O
Best Sellers Rank #26,272 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#105 in Biographies of Presidents & Heads of State (Audible Books & Originals)
#151 in Biographies of Politicians
#258 in US Presidents

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
747 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Metallurgist
5.0 out of 5 stars First Rate
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2008
Verified Purchase
Professor Brands has created a well written, first rate, history of Andrew Jackson's life and times. The "and times" part of the subtitle is important because, unlike some biographies that focus only on their subject, Brands also describes the background events that shaped Jackson's life. Brands has the talent to cover in a paragraph or two what other author's require a chapter to do. The book discusses the myriad of events that Jackson was involved with, such as: the Indian wars against the Creek, the battle of New Orleans, the Seminole wars and military campaign in Florida, the South Carolina Nullification, the transfer of the Indian tribes of the Southern US to west of the Mississippi river and the fight against the Second Bank of the United States, to name just a few. In short, the book covers the important events that shaped the US between Jackson's birth in 1767 and his death in 1845. While a book about Jackson, I learned quite a bit about John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Sam Houston. I learned details that are overlooked in many textbooks. For instance, I never knew that the US considered the Rio Grand River as the southern boundary of the Louisiana purchase from France and that President John Quincy Adams set the boundary north of this as part of the settlement with Spain for Florida and Oregon. I think that this puts the subsequent Mexican claims of Texas in a somewhat different light. The book also contains capsule summaries of many background events in which Jackson was not directly involved, such as: the Scotch-Irish emigration to America, the early Indian wars, the creation of the State of Texas and many other events.

The overriding theme of the book is Jackson's commitment to the Union and his willingness to do whatever he felt was required to do this. This led him to disregard the commands of his military superiors and even to a disregard of the law when he felt that it impeded his support for the Union. Jackson is painted as a man whose sense of honor led him to duels and to put his political life, as well as his physical life, on the line when he felt that his honor or that of his wife or even those of a friend were being challenged.

Jackson has come down to us as the great democrat, a man of the people, at war with those who he felt wanted to subvert the will of the people. However, many of his ideas and actions offend modern sensibilities (and it should be noted those of Jackson's critics at the time). He supported slavery and instead of helping the Indians who fought with him, he forced them to sign treaties that took their lands and eventual led to their removal across the Mississippi. Brands does not condone these actions, but he does explain them in terms of Jackson's support for the Union. Jackson saw the attacks against slavery as a threat to the Union. He felt that eventually the states would abolish slavery, but until then any attempt for the rest of the country to do so would lead to civil war. His relationship with the Indians was even more complex. He personally felt that he did not hate them as a group, but was quite willing to do everything necessary to protect white settlers and to prevent the Indians from becoming the eventual allies of Britain, France or Spain in an attempt to destroy or at least weaken the US. To this end, he felt that Indian nations within the states were unconstitutional and would eventually lead to war with the Indians and their eventual extermination. He felt it was far better for them to be relocated to territories beyond the Mississippi, which were not part of any state and contained relatively few white settlers. The movement west by the Cherokee became a "trail of tears", resulting in the appalling death of thousands of the participants, and in Brands words "making a mockery of Jackson's claim that his policy was founded in humanity".

Having only 560 pages of narrative text, Brands cannot go into great detail about the many events that are discussed. For instance, while there is a chapter devoted to the Battle of New Orleans, it is not covered in as detailed a fashion as it is in many books that are entirely devoted to this subject. Likewise, there are whole books devoted to Jackson's fight against Nicholas Biddle and the Second Bank of the US and his fight against John C. Calhoun and the Doctrine of Nullification, but I do not think that there is a better book that covers all these topics and the scope of Jackson's life and its impact on the history of the US.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Mike Powers
4.0 out of 5 stars "Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times" is a good but too brief biography of America's seventh president.
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
I have long considered Andrew Jackson one of America’s most fascinating Presidents. I recently decided it was time for me to read another book about him. My book of choice was “Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times” by noted biographer and historian H.W. Brands. This book, which is billed as “the first major single-volume biography of Andrew Jackson in decades,” is a very good, although not especially penetrating, portrait of the seventh President of the United States.

Exactly who was this extraordinary man who became the nation’s seventh chief executive? Born in 1767 in South Carolina, Andrew Jackson was Revolutionary War hero by age 12, and a lawyer, judge, and major general of the Tennessee militia by age 40. He married the great love of his life, made a fortune as a land speculator, built a plantation he called “The Hermitage,” owned over 100 slaves, and killed at least two men while fighting several duels.

Jackson’s most notable early accomplishments were when he was an army general. He won a key victory over hostile Native American tribes at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.. When the War of 1812 broke out, he was placed in command of all armies in the southwestern United States. His most famous military victory came at New Orleans, Louisiana, where he led American forces to an overwhelming victory over numerically superior British forces.

Jackson was elected President of the United States in 1828; a champion of majority rule in America, he believed that the office of President was the only one that represented all the people, and that the president must be obedient to the will of those who elected him. His presidency was marked my many controversies great and small. Two of them involved his efforts to abolish the Bank of the United States, and the bitter political battle he waged against South Carolina over that state’s attempts to nullify Federal laws.

In “Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times,” H.W. Brands employs a wonderfully conversational writing style, and does a superb job at keeping his story lively, interesting, and fast-paced. Unfortunately, the story seems to move along a little too quickly at times. As I read this book, I got the feeling that Brands was in a rush to finish, or was working under some kind of restriction on the book’s length. Many of Brands’ descriptions of the events in Andrew Jackson’s life lacked the kind of fine detail I find most useful in presidential biographies. Brands covers Jackson’s presidency in less than 100 pages, and focuses mainly on two or three key issues. He mentions Jackson’s unprecedented censure by U.S. Senate only in passing.

I recommend “Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times” for readers who want to become familiar with the basic story of Andrew Jackson and the era in which he lived.
26 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

HBH
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Biography of the First Democratic President
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
Andrew Jackson by H.W. Brands is a very good book about one of the great icons of American history. It is well-written, informative and opinionated.

It puts Jackson's life in the wider context of the history of the United States and charts the unlikely rise of this most extraordinary character from an orphan without any formal education, to a much feted military hero and ultimately, to President.

Overall, an excellent biography.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Rule 62 Ken
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Life From a Brilliant Historian
Reviewed in Canada on August 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
H. W. Brands offers a well-written biography of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States and the hero of New Orleans. Brands is a wonderful writer. He not only sets out all pertinent information, both about Jackson and his contemporaries, but his analysis is skillful. He explains the what and the why, tries to get into Jackson's head and tell us what he must have been thinking and is convincing in doing so because of how well researched this book is.

Brands does not put Jackson on a pedestal, nor is this book a condemnation of Old Hickory. For those things Jackson deserves praise, Brands gives him due credit. For those things that Jackson deserves to be criticized, Brands does so as well. Both praise and criticism are fair, objective and factor in the mores of the times. Although I didn't always appreciate this as I was working my way through the book, I enjoyed reading this book and find it to be an excellent example of professionalism by a historian. Brands deserves top marks for his research, for his understanding of the events and issues in Jackson's life, for his ability to clearly explain and analyze them and for his wonderful summary of Jackson's life.

A wonderful example of how Brands can see and explain the big picture is found in the last chapter where he compares and contrasts Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. He writes (at pages 553-4):

"For twenty years Jackson and Adams had bracketed American opinion regarding the most important political development of their era, the emergence of democracy. And at the end of that time they remained as divided over its meaning as they had been at the start. Adams believed that ordinary Americans weren't fit to govern themselves, that left to their own ignorance they would choose military heroes and demagogues who told them what they wanted to hear while leading them where they had no business going. The choice of Jackson for president was an early sign of the collapse of the republic, their seizure of Texas the most recent. More evidence doubtless would follow, culminating in a conflict that set one section against the other and utterly undid the handiwork of the founders. Wherever George Washington's deistic soul resided these days, it must be weeping for his country.

"Jackson believed just the opposite. Democracy wasn't a perversion of the republican promise, but it's perfection, or at least a large step towards perfection. The point of republicanism was to make government responsible to the people who lived under its laws. Whatever diminished responsibility was monarchy or aristocracy, and if the American Revolution had been about anything, it was about throwing off those twin incubi of despotism. Democracy made mistakes; Jackson didn't deny this. But its mistakes were the honest and correctable mistakes of human misjudgement, not the interested entrenched mistakes of selfish elites. Did the people know what was best for them? Not always. But they knew better than anyone else knew for them. God alone was perfect and He ruled in heaven. But the people ruled, if imperfectly.

"The question of Jackson's day - as of every day since - was, who was right? Adams or Jackson? In 1845 it was difficult to tell."

This debate continues to this day, not just regarding Jackson and Adams, but of populism and elitism in politics. Brands frames the issue brilliantly.

Be prepared to invest some time into reading this book, but by the end you will find it to be time well spent.
Report
Marc Ranger
5.0 out of 5 stars He died at the right time
Reviewed in Canada on October 6, 2015
Verified Purchase
I must admit, Andrew Jackson was instrumental to what the United States are today. He invaded and almost single handedly gained Florida for his country. He defeated a British/Indian coalition in New Orleans. He was the force behind the annexation of Texas. He believed in the principle that people should and could govern themselves. All of those are great achievements.

However, he was a brute, a fierce individual whose only response to any percieved challenge was violence. Thoughout his life, he associated himself with cruel individuals, men like Roger Taney, the man responsible for the Dred Scott decision. A slaveholder and trader, a duelist, a murderer, a deporter of Indians, nothing was too harsh for Jackson to reach his goal.

His mission in life was to preverve the Union, at all cost. Even more so when the cost was carried and assumed by others. Jackson died when Texas was finally annexed by Polk. The result was the 1850 Compromise, and ultimatly, the long-overdue Civil War. He did died at the right time, because he was spared the most difficult decision he would ever have made.

The Union, or slavery?

You know the answer as well as I do.
Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars always a sign of a good book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
A well written 'good read'.Not only informative and balanced about Jackson but also early American politics and society. This could whet your appetite for more about this period ,always a sign of a good book.
One person found this helpful
 Report
James Squires
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on May 31, 2018
Verified Purchase
Great Stuff !!
Report