Zachary Taylor

April 7, 2008
Eisenhower (So Far from God: The U.S. War with Mexico
), a military historian and retired army general, has a secure mastery of his subject and his era in this addition to the American Presidents series of nutshell biographies. Taylor's career, in Eisenhower's retelling, had two principal foci. First, he was a general in the American incursion into Mexico in 1846, and his campaign, crisply recounted here, was perceived as a success by the American populace, catapulting Taylor (1784–1850) to national prominence. Second, Eisenhower spotlights Taylor's equivocal relationship to slavery. A lifelong slave owner himself, he opposed abolishing slavery where it existed to preserve the Union. Yet Taylor claimed to oppose slavery on principle as well as its spread to California, New Mexico and other new states. Taylor lived only 16 uneventful months after his inauguration in March 1849, so Eisenhower's treatment of his presidency necessarily deals more with congressional debates on slavery than with Taylor himself. Eisenhower takes a nuanced view of the 12th president, finding Taylor gentle in civilian life, something of a disappointment as a soldier, but most fundamentally a man who aimed to preserve the Union. 1 map.

May 1, 2008
The latest installment in this "American Presidents" series is a pithy and readable history, providing a good introduction to the life of a forgotten president. Retired brigadier general Eisenhower ("So Far from God") provides a balanced yet lively view of "Old Rough & Ready," from Taylor's early life to his untimely death in office. While Eisenhower's book does not break any new groundit draws heavily on Holman Hamilton's seminal two-volume biographyit does put Taylor in a more favorable and sympathetic light than K. Jack Bauer's "Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest". Generally considered a man of limited intellectual abilities and a stubborn, petulant, and naive politician, Taylor is here shown to be a thoughtful and more complex figure. For instance, although he was a slaveholder, he opposed the expansion of slavery. While Taylor will likely remain a mysterious and misunderstood figure, as limited scholarly work has been devoted to him and very few of his personal papers survived the Civil War, Eisenhower's account is a very good starting place for students and general readers. Recommended for public and academic libraries.Lisa A. Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
Eisenhower puts his subjects best foot forward by recalling a remark to the effect that Taylor (17841850), a slaveholder who opposed extending slavery into new states, might have prevented the Civil War. A career army officer until mere weeks before his inauguration, Taylor also owned extensive plantations. He was wealthy but not haughty. Willingness to share his soldiers discomforts and, while maintaining military discipline, dressing informally endeared him to the troops. He served without great distinction until the Mexican War, which President Polk gave him discretion to start. By winning the wars first great battle at the right time to attract the attention of Whig Party kingmakers looking for a winner in 1848, he wound up in the White House, intending to be a president for all the peoplevainly, Eisenhower thinks. He died rather suddenly, in the wake of the Compromise of 1850, one constituent of which, the Fugitive Slave Act, he despised. Eisenhower doesnt venture a guess, but would Taylor have vetoed it? The piquancy of such a question makes Taylors biography curiously ponderable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)