Review of Andrew Burstein, The Passions of Andrew Jackson (New York: Random House, 2003), 320 pages

The Passions of Andrew Jackson, written by Andrew Burstein, is the story of the life of President and General Andrew Jackson. Burstein tries to portray Jackson's life without prejudice. In the book's preface, Burstein says that Jackson's other biographers, namely Robert Remini tend to try to make a hero out of Jackson and to not look at all aspects of his career.

        From this book, the reader gets the image of Andrew Jackson as a man who was intensely moral -especially in his own mind-, quick to jump in defense of a woman or man that he perceived accused wrongly of something, and a loving husband. Andrew Burstein portrays Jackson as a man who was self-made, a man who came from nothing and worked his way up to the presidency of the United States of America. He was also an American war hero who never backed down from a fight. These are the good aspects of Andrew Jackson, but there were plenty of bad aspects also. Jackson was a man who embodied the American dream.

        Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in South Carolina. He was the third son of Andrew and Elizabeth Jackson. His father died either shortly before or after his birth. Andrew went to school in a log cabin. Many of his classmates remembered him as someone who was more fond of physical activity than education.

Andrew's life changed drastically when the American Revolution broke out. In the summer of 1779, Hugh, Andrew's oldest brother, died after the Battle of Stono Ferry. In 1871, Andrew and Robert Jackson were captured by British troops. A British officer told fourteen-year-old Andrew to clean his boots, when Andrew would not the officer hit him with his sword. Andrew held up his arm to deflect the blow and this...