Jon Meacham, author and editor of Newsweek magazine, has written a scholarly, absorbing biography of Andrew Jackson, the seventh United States president.

"A source of inspiration to Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War, revered by Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and hailed by Harry Truman as one of the four greatest presidents -- along with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln -- Jackson expanded the powers of the presidency in ways that none of his predecessors had."

Jackson's parents moved from Ireland to a tiny community at the border between North and South Carolina. After his father died unexpectedly, his mother and brothers moved in with relatives. "Growing up he would be a guest of the houses in which he lived, not a son, except of a loving mother who was never the mistress of her own household." He felt an inferiority to and distance from others.

The American Revolution marked him in many ways. His older brother died fighting at the front in 1779 when Jackson was 12. The brutality between the revolutionaries and the Loyalists convinced him that civil war was the worst of evils. His remaining brother died after being in a British prison camp; his mother died in Charleston in 1781 while caring for her nephews there. Andrew saw the massacres and depredations of the notorious "bloody" British Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton, and was ready to fight the British later in 1812.

Meacham says that Jackson's leadership ability and his sense of adventure were already evident in the early days in North Carolina. He moved to Tennessee where he met Rachel Donelson. Unfortunately, she was already married though separated from an abusive husband. She and Jackson fell in love, and there is still a question about whether they were married before her divorce from Lewis Robards.

Jackson loved his wife deeply and was deeply hurt by the criticism she encountered as his fame grew. She died after his election but before the inauguration. Jackson believed in his roles as protector and savior. Though he could not fully protect his wife, he led his men with courage and loyalty. "Follow me and I'll save you yet," he said.

He felt that he could also lead his beloved country. "Jackson's willingness to risk his own life to protect others won him the respect and thanks of his contemporaries and made them amenable to forgiving him his (many) trespasses."

His success against the British in the War of 1812 helped propel him to the presidency. "Patronage, the Bank, nullification, Indian removal, clerical influence in politics, internal improvements, respect abroad -- these were the questions that would define Jackson's White House years."

The reader may be critical of Jackson's decisions, especially about the Indian removal, but she is impressed with his love of the Union and his determination to make the White House, not Capitol Hill, the center of power.

Jackson was the first president to come from the common people and the first to maintain a large circle of private advisors -- the "Kitchen Cabinet" -- to help make policy. He was a great general and a transformative president. In Jackson's era America was moving from an economy based on farming to one based on industry. The southern states were already talking about nullification which might lead to secession.

Meacham presents historical and political facts woven into his narrative about Jackson and the people around him, from his niece who was the White House hostess to challengers like Martin van Buren and Nicholas Biddle. American Lion is an excellent biography about a fascinating and important man.