The Harvard Law School Library staff invite you to attend a book talk and discussion in celebration of The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President (Penguin Random House, 2017) by Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard Law School.
Copies of The Three Lives of James Madison will be available for sale and Professor Feldman will be available for signing books at the end of the talk.
Friday, November 3, 2017 at noon, with lunch
Harvard Law School Room Lewis 214A (Map & Directions)
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
About The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President
“Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician he co-founded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
In The Three Lives of James Madison, Noah Feldman offers an intriguing portrait of this elusive genius and the constitutional republic he created—and how both evolved to meet unforeseen challenges. Madison hoped to eradicate partisanship yet found himself giving voice to, and institutionalizing, the political divide. Madison’s lifelong loyalty to Thomas Jefferson led to an irrevocable break with George Washington, hero of the American Revolution. Madison closely collaborated with Alexander Hamilton on the Federalist papers—yet their different visions for the United States left them enemies.
Alliances defined Madison, too. The vivacious Dolley Madison used her social and political talents to win her husband new supporters in Washington—and define the diplomatic customs of the capital’s society. Madison’s relationship with James Monroe, a mixture of friendship and rivalry, shaped his presidency and the outcome of the War of 1812.
We may be more familiar with other Founding Fathers, but the United States today is in many ways Madisonian in nature. Madison predicted that foreign threats would justify the curtailment of civil liberties. He feared economic inequality and the power of financial markets over politics, believing that government by the people demanded resistance to wealth. Madison was the first Founding Father to recognize the importance of public opinion, and the first to understand that the media could function as a safeguard to liberty.
The Three Lives of James Madison is an illuminating biography of the man whose creativity and tenacity gave us America’s distinctive form of government. His collaborations, struggles, and contradictions define the United States to this day.” — Penguin Random House
Panelists
Professor David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University
Professor Bruce Mann, Carl F. Schipper, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Professor Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government, Harvard University
More About The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President
“Noah Feldman brings a scholarly rigor and a gift for narrative to this impressive account of the sprawling—and often perplexing—life of James Madison. Understanding America requires understanding this often-overlooked Founder and his long, eventful life in the arena. We are fortunate indeed that Feldman has given us such a thoughtful examination of Madison’s mind and its still-unfolding role in the story of the nation.” — Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
“James Madison is famously known as the ‘Father’ of the American Constitution. With great insight, conveyed in elegant and commanding prose, Noah Feldman gives us a rich portrait of our fourth president in all his many aspects: constitution maker, politician, partisan, friend, slaveholder, husband, president, and elder statesman. The result is a fresh, bold, and much-needed look at a pivotal figure in American and, therefore, world history.” — Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
“In order to understand America and its Constitution, it is necessary to understand James Madison. Noah Feldman, combining laudable scholarship with delightful writing, does a brilliant job of showing how Madison’s precise and reasoned mind, along with his personal friendships and rivalries, created our code as a nation. Madison’s aversion to mindless partisanship and his belief in a public spirit provide an invaluable inspiration for our troubled political times.” — Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs
“In The Three Lives of James Madison, Noah Feldman skillfully explains the evolving genius of Madison with precision and clarity. The result is a narrative both epic in scope and intimate in detail.” — David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, authors of Washington’s Circle: The Creation of the President