James Madison and the Making of America -KevinR.C. Gutzman-3

[Booknblues]

I had high hopes for this book when I bought the hard cover version clear back in 2012, as I have great interest in the Founding Fathers and the making of the constitution. However it was one of those books which kept moving back on my tbr, until I decided it was well past the time to begin reading it.

What I did not realize, was that it would have little to do with his personal life and all to do with his political philosophy, actions, and work. While this could be exciting, it turned into an exercise of watching paint dry. Did you know that Madison wrote something like 29 Federalist Papers? Each one was explained in detail in this tome. There were 2 long chapters which detailed Madison efforts to get the Constitution ratified.

On the other hand through out this book, Dolley Madison was mentioned only in a few sentences here and there. We have no vision of Madison's life outside of the political sphere.

This was clearly the wrong book for me to choose about Madison's life and career.

[Joanne]

Yuck-so sorry it was like watching paint dry-I hate that! Kudos to you though, for finishing. I probably would have quit it.

[Booknblues]

Joanne wrote: "Yuck-so sorry it was like watching paint dry-I hate that! Kudos to you though, for finishing. I probably would have quit it."

I thought of that, but I was so far in that I soldiered through. I did skim bits.