Avenging the People
Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law, and the American Nation
J.M. Opal
Reviews and Awards
"Many Americans long for a strong man to lead the nation and avenge their grievances. In this eloquent book, Jason Opal astutely and vividly recovers the backstory to that longing in the personal charisma, frontier violence, legal reasoning, and assertive self-righteousness of Andrew Jackson and his America." --Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
"If you think there can't be much more to say about Andrew Jackson, you will share my excitement at how much Jason Opal has discovered. In his subject's diverse hatreds, against Whigs and Indians, Britons and bankers, Opal has found a unifying thread--Jackson's obsession with revenge--that helps to explain them all." --Woody Holton, author of Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution
"Jason Opal shows how a violent frontier ruled by vengeance shaped the characters of Andrew Jackson and so many of his countrymen. This vivid, wide-ranging, meticulously documented narrative will fascinate history buffs and scholars alike." --Daniel Walker Howe, author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848
"What a riveting book this is! How is it that Americans, a professedly civilized and peace-loving people, have at times behaved so savagely and even gloried in their savagery? J. M. Opal's provocative take on Jacksonian character rewrites Andrew Jackson not as common-man champion but as avenger-in-chief, the avatar of a nation whose defining trait was not equality or democracy but an unslakable craving for vengeance." --Daniel Feller, University of Tennessee
"A timely study of how American democracy set limits on its own egalitarian potential while enacting bloody vengeance against people defined as enemies to American progress." --Kathleen DuVal, author of Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
"A scholarly study of Andrew Jackson's troubling sense of persecution and vindication for the poor, white frontier folk who flocked to his name and legend... Given some of the views of the current occupant of the White House, it is certainly relevant."--Kirkus
"A thoroughly researched and quite sophisticated book... Opal's portrait of Jackson and his world is insightful and vividly rendered."--Richard White, Boston Review
"A beneficial and comprehensive addition to the discussion of how the United States became what it is today."--Counterpunch
"[Opal] certainly has an eye for the telling anecdote and a knack for capturing in a few words the essence of Jackson's vengeful character... Opal also offers a big idea to frame his lively prose. Jackson, he argues, was hardly the thoughtless figure [Richard] Hofstadter described, who believed that might always made him right. Instead, Old Hickory had a more sophisticated view of power: He legitimated his aggression in politics and war by invoking the concept of the rights of sovereign nations."- Michael Kazin, The Nation
"Excellent research and impressive erudition."--Library of Law and Liberty blog
"A technical but compelling read, this book goes a long way to understanding the glorification of national vengeance that is the structural basis of the US nation."--The Times (U.K.)
