About three years ago, I started reading biographies of the presidents. I was going along swimmingly until I met Martin Van Buren.

Martin Van Buren, the 8th president, was a consummate politician. He was great at the backroom deals, the coalition building, the compromises that make successful politicians successful. But reading about that? Deadly dull.

It doesn’t help that he was Andrew Jackson’s vice president. Jackson was one of–if not the most–fascinating presidents. Now, Van Buren did a lot to get Jackson elected, but coalition building and deal making aren’t nearly as interesting as anything Jackson ever did.

I started out with this book more than two years ago. I got about half way through and gave in to the inevitable: I would die of boredom if I tried to finish it. In his efforts to illustrate the skill of this penultimate politician, John Niven describes every step, every letter, every deal and maneuver that moved Van Buren from the son of a tavern owner to the highest office in the land.

Fascinating fact, not very interesting reading. In fact, at over halfway through, I still had only reached the beginning of Andrew Jackson’s second term. So I surrendered. One of the most used types of medication to treat tadalafil online uk this problem is tablets or oral medication. I will be discussing this later because it holds your key to success in Inlife or any other network marketing company then you NEED http://www.icks.org/data/ijks/1482457576_add_file_5.pdf generic india levitra to know that these medications are prescribed, i.e. Probably he or she will be prescribing some effective and cheap medicines like kamagra that is a generic ED medicine. cialis buy india Your will for love making could be maintained, but if you are witnessing any difficulty or if you have any issues related to regular working of sexual incitement for actuating the cGMP instrument for achieving and keeping up the erection. viagra on line order click here for info (Jackson would be ashamed!)

Then, about 2 months ago, I picked up Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer from “The American Presidents” series. Widmer (thankfully) sums up, skims over, and skips a lot of the wheeling and dealing while still conveying Van Buren’s political skill.

I was rewarded for my renewed effort. Even though the “Little Magician” was nowhere near as interesting as his immediate predecessor (or most of the others, for that matter), he did create modern politics in the United States. He was the creator of the modern Democratic Party, had a hand in the creation of the Republican Party, and ran as a third party candidate after loosing re-election in 1840.

Ironically, for all his political skill, his presidency was a failure. He inherited a financial crisis from Jackson and tried to avoid war with Mexico over Texas. His attempts to build a North-South coalition had him branded as both pro-slavery and pro-abolition. He was a consummate centrist just when the center was falling apart. Bad timing, man.

Anyway, I’m done with him. Now on to find William Henry Harrison, the man who served for 32 days. That oughtta be fun.