Created: May 18, 2007 11:00 AM
<BUz12>Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr<BIUz$>(Viking, 544 pages) <f"FranklinGothic-DemiCond">AMERICANS these days are always learning something surprising or seemingly out of character about important figures in the early history of their country.Like that George Washington owned slaves, hundreds of them even. Or that Benjamin Franklin may not have been much of a womaniser after all. Or that Aaron Burr was an honourable and principled man, a progressive thinker and a true patriot who fell from grace after killing a man in a duel who for years tried to sabotage his political career by maliciously spreading lies and rumours of sexual perversions about him. With this fascinating and long-overdue portrait of the misunderstood Burr, Nancy Isenberg, a history professor at the University of Tulsa, joins the ranks of David McCullough, Joseph J. Ellis and other great modern-day biographers of our Founding Fathers.
Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr
(Viking, 544 pages) AMERICANS these days are always learning something surprising or seemingly out of character about important figures in the early history of their country.Like that George Washington owned slaves, hundreds of them even. Or that Benjamin Franklin may not have been much of a womaniser after all. Or that Aaron Burr was an honourable and principled man, a progressive thinker and a true patriot who fell from grace after killing a man in a duel who for years tried to sabotage his political career by maliciously spreading lies and rumours of sexual perversions about him. With this fascinating and long-overdue portrait of the misunderstood Burr, Nancy Isenberg, a history professor at the University of Tulsa, joins the ranks of David McCullough, Joseph J. Ellis and other great modern-day biographers of our Founding Fathers.
Her well-documented account of Burr’s life — Fallen Founder contains more than 100 pages of footnotes — could have read more like a college textbook if not for her storytelling gift that humanises Burr and effortlessly carries readers back into his world.
Isenberg (pictd)<$><\p>captures the essence of US politics in the nation’s formative years, explaining how Burr nearly became president in the controversial election of 1800 but instead ended up becoming Thomas Jefferson’s first vice-president. It was late in his term when Burr challenged political rival Alexander Hamilton to a pistol duel after the publication of a series of insults that Hamilton, who was the nation’s first treasury secretary under Washington, directed at him.
Hamilton died a day after being shot in their duel, which took place on July 11, 1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey. Burr was acquitted of murder charges and later of treason charges after being accused of trying to steal Louisiana Purchase lands from the US government.
Many Americans know some version of Burr’s downfall, and Isenberg explains that tragedy in great detail. But, just as thoroughly, she also describes his development into a flawed but compassionate and intelligent soldier, attorney and politician. Burr was ahead of his time as a supporter of the empowerment of women and a champion of the downtrodden.
Isenberg not only captures the essence of US politics in the nation’s critical formative years but also restores a fallen founder.
