AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: If Men Were Angels: James Madison and the Heartless Empire of Reason (American Political Thought) by Richard K. Matthews ISBN: 0-7006-0807-9 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.4 (5 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Groundbreaking Work
Comment: This work is truly goundbreaking. The comparison of the liberal/commercial views of James Madison with the radical democratic views of his close friend, Thomas Jefferson are truly enlightening. Matthews shows how Madison was closer to Hamilton than to Jefferson in political philosophy. Madison was obsessed with balance, and order in the liberal tradition. Jefferson,on the other hand, had a vision of radical democracy in the republic. Ward republics, and local democracy were infused into Jefferson's thought. Madison was more concerned with balancing the interests of society and controlling "factions". He viewed government from a more Hobbsian view than other Jeffersonians.Madison was far less trusting of human nature and more concerned with "stability" in society than with experiments in government. This book goes against the grain of current scholarship which unites Jefferson and Madison in philosophy when in fact in many ways they were poles apart. A great book.

Rating: 1
Summary: This revisionist book is a stake in the heart of Madison...
Comment: Matthew specializes in pseudohistory books for New York's limousine liberal crowd. This book is a downright distortive pseudohistory that dwells on one Madison quote and inteprets Madison's whole political philosophy as some proto-authoritarian republican advocating a strong central government and "Machiavellian" politics to maintain "stability." The author essentially muddles his own socialistic, authoritarian philosophy on politics with that of James Madison. He tries to reintepret the history of the Presidency of Madison along these lines.

Rating: 5
Summary: Judge for yourself
Comment: If Men Were Angels is as "poor" a book as reviewer "Joseph (see more about me) Schulman" thinks, why is it that Gordon Wood gave it a favorable review in the New York Review of Books? Moreover, it received praise from several leading historians including Jack Greene and Forrest McDonald. Perhaps open minded readers might come to different conclusions about this book.

Similar Books:

	Title: The Radical Politics of Thomas Jefferson by Richard K. Matthews ISBN: 0700602933 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: March, 1986 List Price(USD): $9.95
	Title: ALEXANDER HAMILTON, American by Richard Brookhiser ISBN: 0684863316 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 12 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00
	Title: Toward a More Perfect Union: Virtue and the Formation of American Republics by Ann Fairfax Withington ISBN: 0195068351 Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Pub. Date: October, 1991 List Price(USD): $65.00