Calhoun

American Heretic

By: Robert Elder

Narrated by: Rick Perez

A new biography of the intellectual father of Southern secession -- the man who set the scene for the Civil War, and whose political legacy still shapes America today.

John C. Calhoun is among the most notorious and enigmatic figures in American political history. First elected to Congress in 1810, Calhoun went on to serve as secretary of war and vice president. But he is perhaps most known for arguing in favor of slavery as a "positive good" and for his famous doctrine of "state interposition," which laid the groundwork for the South to secede from the Union -- and arguably set the nation on course for civil war.

Calhoun has catapulted back into the public eye in recent years, as the strain of radical politics he developed has found expression once again in the tactics and extremism of the modern Far Right. In this revelatory biographical study, historian Robert Elder shows that Calhoun is crucial for understanding the political climate in which we find ourselves today. By excising him from the mainstream of American history, we have been left with a distorted understanding of our past and no way to explain our present.

Excellent book and performance

I’m trying to give it five stars in all categories but phone not cooperating. I got this book because of review in The Economist. Otherwise never would have touched it. Dislike his ideas and his effect on US and our history. But he’s a complex man. And the reading was good too, straightforward, fitting to the subject and my tastes.

Loved it. Thorough and I learned a great deal.

Calhoun is a tough subject to tackle because it is tempting to let the awfulness of the cause he served be the only thing that matters. I found the treatment of him complete and nuanced without obscuring or avoiding his connection to slavery. I'm glad I took the time with this. I did think the narration was a touch uneven, as though someone went back and dropped in sentences or paragraphs occasionally.

Cautionary book against modern rewriting of history

An excellent retelling of a life and works of a man who has been glorified and vilified for one stance he took and drove relentlessly at the end of his public career to the exclusion of all else that he achieved. History will repeat itself to those who seek to erase it instead of contextualizing and understanding it.

A good biography spoiled (almost)

Excellent biography, terrible narration. Inappropriate pauses, pronunciation and emphasis throughout. A computer reading would have been better.

Tyranny of the Majority

A fascinating history of the godfather of the Confederacy and a staunch defender of white supremacy. You can't understand the States right movement until you grasp his ideas.