Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor (2006)

Wonderful biography of Dolley Madison, wife of our 4th president, James Madison. Though raised a Quaker, she created the social world of the new capital - Washington City. I had never thought about the beginnings of Washington, with muddy streets and incomplete buildings for congress, the president, the government. The early years of American history are fascinating. What was it like to set up a new form of government, create a new country, learn to work together? Looks like the bi-partisan system has evolved over these last 200 plus years.

I was exposed to the early years of the U.S., including the War of 1812, which I have to admit I still don't understand. Amazing that it involved fighting with Canada and Michigan played a role at Macinac.

Dolley had the opportunity to meet many interesting people of those times. She knew twelve presidents in her life and people like Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, who I vaguely remember from a history paper I wrote in high school. I was intrigued by Jefferson after visiting Monticello and the University of Virginia last year. This book offered some criticism of Jefferson, but that doesn't surprise me.

Dolley was know for her social events, where politicians and other important people would gather and exchange ideas. Since there was little else available in early Washington City, she was a pioneer, and the author believes she facilitated the workings of the early government by providing this venue for discussion.

The end of the book discussed what Dolley chose to keep for posterity. She worked hard to save the heritage of her husband, but she destroyed certain of her own letters. The first biographies were written by her relatives, based on things she had written herself. It sounds that for many years that was the "official" biography and only recently new versions have become available.

Though I feel this book could have used some more editing - same things were repeated over and over again, I still appreciate the enormity of the job. Obviously many hours were spent pouring over letters and other documents in archives (always an exciting prospect for me as librarian), and the language of the day needed to be deciphered. Though I usually prefer being fed history through novels, I enjoyed learning about this era through Allgor's book.