American Lion (book)

American Lion:
Andrew Jackson in the White House

Author	Jon Meacham
Language	English
Genre	Presidential Biography
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	November 11, 2008
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	512 pages
ISBN	1-4000-6325-6
Dewey Decimal	973.56092

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House is a 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, written by Jon Meacham. It won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, with the prize jury describing it as "an unflinching portrait of a not always admirable democrat but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life".^[1]

Meacham wrote American Lion drawing in part on previously unavailable documents, including letters, diaries, memorabilia, and accounts from Jackson's intimate circle that had been largely privately owned for 175 years. Much of the correspondence was found in archives at the Hermitage, Jackson's estate in Nashville, Tennessee. American Lion is not a full-scale account of Jackson's entire life or political career, but rather focuses on his presidency and his domestic arrangements in the White House.

American Lion focuses a great deal on the Bank War, the federal tariff on imports, and the Petticoat affair, during which Meacham claimed "the future of the American presidency was at stake".^[2] Meacham believed Jackson represented the best and worst of American character, citing his simultaneous capacity for kindness and cruelty. Of all the early U.S. presidents and Founding Fathers, Meacham believed Jackson was "the most like us",^[3] and had the strongest influence on the modern presidency. In writing American Lion, Meacham said he sought not to whitewash Jackson or "all his sins, which are enormous",^[4] such as his support of slavery and Indian removal.

American Lion received generally positive reviews. It was included on The New York Times Book Review's list of 100 Notable Books of 2008, and was ranked one of the best books of 2008 by The Washington Post's Book World. Critics praised Meacham's writing, the depth of research, Jackson's riveting story, and the placement of Jackson's legacy in a modern context. Mixed or negative reviews accused Meacham of portraying Jackson too positively or spending too much time on political scandals. The book has reportedly been read by U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and praised by such figures as Mike Pence, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill O'Reilly, Jon Stewart, Eric Cantor, and Tim McGraw.

In 2015, HBO announced it was working on a television miniseries adaptation of American Lion starring Sean Penn as Andrew Jackson, but the project stalled after the departure of director Phillip Noyce over reported disagreements with Jackson's depiction.