Burr Books

The Turning Point: Jefferson's Battle For The Presidency offers a comprehensive presentation of the dramatic, dead-heat, 1800 presidential campaign between Thomas Jefferson and his vice presidential running mate Aaron Burr. This is also the story of other key personalities involved including Margaret Bayard Smith, the daughter of a firm Federalist, who defied her family and gave her heart to Samuel Harrison Smith, a pro-Jefferson newspaper editor. Then their was Margaret's cousin, Delaware congressman James A. Bayard who held the key vote when Jefferson, after thirty-five deadlocked ballots in the House of Representatives, finally wrested victory from Aaron Burr amid threats of civil war, thereby concluding the Federalist era of aristocratic rule and opening American politics to the age of modern democracy. The Bayard-Smith love letters from the basis of this insightful, original presentation of the issues, events, and politically active personalities of an intensely fought and pivotal presidential campaign that would profoundly influence American history.

A solid account of the political turmoil surrounding the 1800 election, with vivid portraits of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr (J. Adams is more sketchy, a fact more evident in the post-McCullough treatment days.) There's less on broad electoral college strategizing than there might be and more on romance, as the narrative is centered around a series of love letters which might interest others more than they did me. Well-written and factual, to my knowledge, certainly worth a read by those interested in this era.

It was Goo

This was my introduction to Burr beyond what I learned in history class. It tries to be even-handed and not either putting Burr in a favorable light or the negative light he is usually cast in. It focuses heavily on his childhood, his relationship with his daughter and his term as vice-president. It glosses over the deul, and everything that happens after his vice-presidency including the Mexico fiasco and the trial for treason, but overall a good book. In fact, it ends with him getting a standing ovation from the senate at the end of his term. This book caused me to look at other Burr books, includiing Burr by Gore Vidal.

This extremely compelling (and, unfortunately, out-of-print) biography picks up Aaron Burr's life after he killed Alexander Hamilton in U.S. history's most famous duel (which, by the way, took place in Weehawken, New Jersey, along the bank of the Hudson River) and after the conclusion of his vice presidential term. In fact, Jefferson and Burr were sworn enemies, and their mutual hatred only increased over time (Burr was vice president for only the first of the two terms that Jefferson served).

In 1805, the cash-strapped Burr, already widely considered a scoundrel, became basically a con artist, who attempted to raise money by telling people of means what they wanted to hear. To ambitious Americans, he was leading an army to "conquer" portions of the now-southern United States and Mexico, which were controlled by Spain, if and when the U.S. and Spain went to war. For those less aggressive, he was simply leading a group of pioneers to settle what were known as the Bastrop lands. The story he told to potential Spanish and British backers was quite different: he was raising an army to conquer "western" U.S. States bordering the Mississippi, which would then be allied to Spain or Britain (depending on whom he was talking to) although no one could ever prove that this was his real intention. While some of his backers and allies were sincere, others, like General Wilkinson, the "dictator" of New Orleans, and on the payroll as an agent from Spain, turned out to be an even bigger scoundrel than Burr, and betrayed Burr to Jefferson. When Jefferson began taking the threat of Burr seriously, an army was raised to defeat Burr's "army" which consisted of 60 to 100 men, women and children which could not have invaded a small island, not to mention an entire State.

Ex-Vice President Burr was then put on trial for treason, presided over by Chief Justice John Marshall acting in his capacity as a circuit judge, and, after hearing from 50 or so witnesses, a jury eventually acquitted him of all charges (thanks in large part to Marshall's instructions to the jury regarding the law). Burr than fled to Britain to escape his numerous creditors, and criminal charges in different states (including the murder of Hamilton). In Europe, he basically lived like a nobleman at night, and a pauper during the day. Eventually, he returned to the U.S. and, at a relatively old age, resumed his profession as a lawyer, but always remained in debt, and in search of a "get rich quick" scheme. Always, throughout his life, Burr stayed extremely close to his daughter, Theodosia, one of the few people who Burr ever truly respected. Late in life, he also developed relationships with the children of various women he had affairs with after his wife died.

Burr's life was incredibly bizarre, much stranger than fiction. Milton Lomask does an admirable task in trying to convey Burr's life, although I got the feeling that he grew maybe a little too sympathetic to his subject. Lomask, however, is not in the same class of biographers as, for example, David McCullough or Ron Chernow. That is why I believe the definitive book about this fascinating and complex man has yet to be written. I do, however, recommend Lomask's book about the second half of Burr's life, and I plan on reading his other biography about the first half.

No historical figure could be described as an enigma more so than Aaron Burr, a colonel, lawyer, New York Legislator, U.S. Senator, Vice President, and the murderer of Alexander Hamilton. Although Burr had the advantage of coming from a line of presidents of Princeton, he lost both his parents early, and was raised by an uncle he had little feelings for. However, he was an extremely smart and ambitious youth, and made his way through education to become a distinguished soldier (except in the eyes of George Washington, who never trusted him) and a lawyer who practiced in New York. He was always aware of how important appearances were, so he lived far above his means, to the point of being in perpetual debt. Because of a combination of intelligence, ambition and fortunate circumstances, he found himself sought out by Democrat Republicans to be Jefferson's running mate against John Adams in the 1800 Presidential election. The truth was however, that Burr lacked any strong political views, and could have easily allied himself with the rival party, the Federalists. Burr, indeed had his ardent supporters (known as "Burrites") as well as arch-enemies (as Lomask points out, it's difficult to say when exactly Hamilton would fall into this category), not necessarily along party lines.

Burr attempted, as best he could, to keep himself above the struggles of the most powerful New York politicians, and he was, at first, uncontroversial enough to be nominated as Jefferson's running mate. However, because of a quirk in the electoral college (each elector had two votes), Aaron Burr received as many votes as Thomas Jefferson, placing the election between these two in the hands of Congress. Amazingly, Jefferson and Burr never spoke, but the Democratic Republican party asked Burr to announce that he would not serve if elected President, whereas the Federalists now supported Burr as the lesser of two evils (they thought Jefferson, who had served as Vice-President under Adams, would ruin the Country). Burr, playing the middle, refused to say anything, causing Jefferson, when he was finally elected after multiple votes were taken, to absolutely despise his Vice-President, to the point where Burr became a complete Washington outsider, even though he was supposedly the number two man.

Of course, the most notorious part of the first half of Burr's life was his feud with Hamilton, which arose from Burr's learning about a negative comment Hamilton allegedly made at a party concerning Burr's character (Burr was something of a cad) leading to, by far, the most famous duel in American History. And, if you read my review of Lomask's biography of the second part of Burr's life, you will see that the utterly bizarre life of Aaron Burr would become even more bizarre.

The subject matter of Lomask's two biographies, which are both quite good, cannot be more interesting. I do believe, however, that it's only a matter of time until we get a biography about this fascinating and strange man from a more top-flight biographer, perhaps Ron Chernow, who one would think would consider writing a book on Aaron Burr after his extremely well-received biography of Hamilton.

In this chapter on multifrequency tympanometry Robert Margolis and Lisa Hunter, Otolaryngology Department, University of Minnesota, USA present (*) a summary of the linear theory used to interpret the immittance measurements, (*) examples of actual measurement as well as (*) the steps in the practical procedure and (*) the reliability of this method in diagnosing middle ear diseases.

It is the clearest and most detailed presentation of tympanometry I have been able to find (you can find a detailed primer on the physics of tympanometry -based on Margolis's and Hunter's chapter- by searching with Google for tympanometry + lymenet).

I have not yet read this book, but in the absence of any other reviews, I should point out that it is a classic frequently referred to in many other books on energy medicine. Burr was a professor at Yale who did experiments in the 1970s and was able to detect electrical fields around plants and animals, which he called the "l-field" or "life field." This book appears to be a summary of his findings and their implications, written for the lay person, followed by the technical results of his experiments for those who may wish to read his methodology for himself and possibly repeat it.

Abernethy's book, while strongly biased against Burr, is still essential reading if you want to know the events of the Burr Conspiracy. Abernethy goes into more detail than any other historian, incorporating and describing the contemporary testimony and opinions of many individuals. He succeeds in painting a relatively complete picture of day-to-day goings-on and divides the material into logical chapters, making it easier for readers to go back, relocate, and retrace important junctures. A very readable, well-researched, well-written, and helpful book.

Unfortunately, one must ignore Abernethy's conclusions about Burr's intentions -- not because they are wholly unfounded, since Abernethy provides logical explanations as to why he believes them, but because he relies almost exclusively on the testimony/opinions of Burr's opponents. Abernethy makes the understandable error of concluding that simply because two people made similar statements, they must have been right. Even if both persons were sincere and honest, it is quite possible that both heard the same story, but that the story was a fiction or not from a reliable source.

Burr had various reasons for saying things at different times and sometimes his own agents said things that he probably did not endorse. (See, for example, Mary-Jo Kline's editorial note on the famous cypher letter in her collection of Burr papers Political Correspondence and (2v.) Public Papers of Aaron B.]

Other books should be consulted if you want to understand Burr's views: Walter F. McCaleb The Aaron Burr Conspiracy managed to unearth documents that shed new light on Burr's motives; Roger Kennedy's book on the character of Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character provides some fascinating new pieces of the puzzle; and Nancy Isenberg's new biography of Burr Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr provides a broader historical understanding and even more insights.

Nonetheless, Abernethy's book remains essential reading on the Burr Conspiracy.

Dan Burr's illustrations evoke powerful emotion, and are well tied to J. Patrick Lewis' poetry. A book I purchased because of my love of poetry and things castle related. I just MAY share it with my students!

A great Australian beginners guide. Being Italian, my love for Olives comes from my very own childhood back yard. This book helps the Australian understand the trials and tribulations of the olive industry in Australia dating back to the early 19th century. A great foray of recipes and technical information about the humble olive and its oil. It also introduces the many persons responsible for the growth of the industry in Australia in recent time. A great book for the olive lover.