Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication

James C. Curtis has produced a surprisingly good work in "...The Search For Vindication". Given that it is only 194 pages, cover to cover, and that I picked it up for 25 cents at a yard sale, I wasn't expecting a lot. I thought I had read most of what was worth reading about our seventh president, and most of it was excellent, but fairly repetitive in both content and explanation. However, Curtis' title gives a clue to his content, and that the reader will not find just a rehash of history, but also, hopefully, some insight into why this man who was paranoid, angry, lacking in formal education, and in so many other ways totally unqualified to be president is now so well regarded by historians. Not only was Jackson unqualified, he also knew he was unqualified, as he himself stated in 1816 when friends mentioned him as a candidate for president, "Do they think I am such a d----- fool! No sir, I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President." (page 78) How and why he changed his mind is part of the fascination of his story. ( Amazon customer)