A review by evamadera1
Madison and Jefferson by Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein

4.0

I absolutely loved this book. I found it quite refreshing to dive into this brilliant work of historiography after the cluster that is "Gone Girl." In fact, I enjoyed the book so much that my slower pace so that I could savor the pages almost meant that I ran out of time in 2018 to finish!

The partnership of Jefferson and Madison is one that almost anyone in America knows thanks to history books, and Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" of course. However, I knew little of the intimacies of the actual partnership and the relationship of these two men. The two authors, Burstein and Isenberg (somehow Goodreads leaves off the female author? hmm...), weave a narrative that shows no hint of dual authorship, a cohesive narrative that draws the reader into the intricacies that come with fighting a revolution through the written word, politics, and much more, establishing a government and forging a legacy.

For any person remotely interested in American history of any time, especially the Revolutionary and Early National Era, I highly recommend this book.