The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation
In this highly readable, engrossing work of nonfiction, Cheney chronicles highlights in the lives of the first four men from Virginia who served as President of the United States. These brilliant but flawed individuals—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe–all from the privileged gentry class—were complex personalities who acted together to achieve a new and free nation amidst chaos and controversy, well aware they were involved in an “…opportunity offered by time and place to be of consequence, to create something wholly new, and to change the world for the better.” Friends and rivals, they were often in bitter contention: their disagreements created shifting alliances, political parties, and contradictions in policy. Their attitudes concerning slavery had lasting repercussions, and they knew their successors would be responsible for the fate of what Washington called “the last great experiment in promoting human happiness.” With incisive portraits not only of the Virginians, but also of such notables as Alexander Hamilton, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson, Dolley Madison, and Stephen Decatur, Cheney’s splendid account is meticulously researched, vastly illuminating, and entertaining to boot. Notes, bibliography, index included.
