Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr | 
| Author: Nancy Isenberg
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 629917
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0143113712
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780143113713
ASIN: 0143113712
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
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Product Description
A controversial challenge to the works of Ron Chernow and David McCullough
With Fallen Founder , Nancy Isenberg plumbs rare and obscure sources to shed new light on everyones favorite founding villain. The Aaron Burr whom we meet through Isenbergs eye-opening biography is a feminist, an Enlightenment figure on par with Jefferson, a patriot, andmost importantlya man with powerful enemies in an age of vitriolic political fighting. Revealing the gritty reality of eighteenth-century America, Fallen Founder is the authoritative restoration of a figure who ran afoul of history and a much-needed antidote to the hagiography of the revolutionary era.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Not a "Founder" perhaps, but . . . September 2, 2008
With the exception of those victims of the Parson Weems School of Hagiography it is instructive to read the uncharacteristically wide and evenly divided range of criticism of this book and, I gotta say, almost all are correct. Although Burr was certainly not a "Founder" (Title Hyperbole!!) in the strict sense, he was certainly a "player" and truly one of the more fascinating and complex characters of the early Republic.
The book is obviously well-researched although I'm not sure if it adds anything substantially new. The style is curiously bland and many of the arguments self-serving. After I read Isenberg, I reread my old copy of Gore Vidal's, "Burr". Written in 1973 when Burr's reputation probably could use some rehabilitation, I suspect now, that it was based on substantially the same scholarship. That having been said, those with little knowledge of the subject and an open mind would be well-served to read Isenberg for background and Vidal for style. Her praise for her subject being no more than Chernow for "Alexander Hamilton", she is not as good a writer.
 A different look at history August 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I finished this interesting take on Aaron Burr which seems to contradict other biographies. Ms Isenberg portrays our "would be 3rd President" as a victim of smears by most politicians of the day. The VP is just an innocent man that is not only disliked everywhere he goes, but also a Republican from a Federalist state.
After the selection of Clinton as VP of Jefferson's 2nd term Burr seems to disappear. The book explains that he was exploring and traveling like any other normal retired person. In fact, most historians agree that he was plotting to overthrow Mexico and then the United States for revenge the way his Government and Jefferson treated him. This is where the book starts throwing factual history out the window and starts making a lot of assumptions to make Burr appear to be the victim once again.
Either Aaron Burr was the unluckiest guy in the world or this book is making a lot of false assumptions. It is sad in that similar to maybe Barry Goldwater, this was a brilliant guy with potential and we'll always wonder . . . what if? Had he been selected as the 3rd President how different, if at all, would America be? No Louisiana purchase, no Lewis & Clark expedition, no War of 1812, no University of Virginia, no James Madison as President . . . . we can only wonder had this unlucky man; Aaron Burr, been selected (he was elected and tied Jefferson) President of the United States.
I enjoyed this book August 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and the new information I learned about one of history's great characters. Burr knew all the founders and played a part in our early history. The epilogue to the book was correct: All these men were simply men and they were not doing historical things all of their lives. Another point: The politics of 2008 is not much different from 1800.
 Fallen Founder: 5 Stars for Rsch, 2 for Objectiviity/ Readability August 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A brief thought to add to the other many reviews.
Isenberg has done a brilliant job of difficult research.
Sadly, in the readability department, it is sorely lacking.
And, as far as objectivity goes, it strives too hard to drive home the author's desired theme of lifting Burr's reputation - at the expense of the other players.
One example: On page 93 when speaking of (Scty of Treasury) Hamilton's paying 6% interest on State Debt, the author neglects to mention that according to many other records, Hamilton himself did not gain personally, while other speculated on the expected results. Also lacking is any mention that Hamilton was driven by the need to get the States to support the Federal Government which was by no means solvent or on firm ground.
 Shoddy and unconvincing July 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Why did I dislike this book? Let me count the ways.
1) In her attempt to rehabilitate Aaron Burr, whom she clearly sees as an early supporter of feminism and a visionary reformer, Ms. Isenberg violates her own rules, She states that we must judge histroic figures against the standards of their times, not ours. She then analyzes Burr's career through the prism of the rampant self promotion of our era instead of the reticent standards of the federalist period.
2) Isenberg puts herself inside the mind of Burr with sentences such as if Burr had known X he would not have done Y. This type of speculation belongs in the realm of romantic fiction, not scholarship.
3) Making a case for Burr, Isenberg paints him in the best possible light while placing all of Burr's contemporary critics in the worst possible light. According to her, George Washington was easily mislead by his aides. Alexander Hamilton was insanely jealous. As for John Adams, Isenberg knows that when Adams wrote about the favorable actions of anonymous members of Congress, plural, Adams had to be writing about that paragon of virtue, Aaron Burr. Why the articulate and forthright second president could not praise Burr by name, had such praise been warranted, is not explained.
The last straw was Isenberg's narrative about Burr and William Eaton. If all one knows of Eaton is from this book, he or she will come away with the impression that the Barbary Coast War immortalized in the Marine Corps Hymn was a sordid private land grab conducted solely to enrich said Eaton. That's because Isenberg relates Eaton's life story without mentioning the reason for his expedition in North Africa was to stop the Barbary Coast rulers from sanctioning piracy against American ships and the taking of American hostages.
4) Much of the book suffers from a near fatal lack of context. For example, Isenberg clearly thinks it is to Burr's favor that he and his wife were avid students of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She fails to note, however, that during Burr's political career many of his contemporaries associated French political philosophy with the excesses of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon's empire. Thus she makes political opposition to Burr's ideas appear to be based entirely upon personal enmity instead of practical concerns that the new American Republic should not also fall into chaos and dictatorship.
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