Rating: 
Summary: Thorough but so dry...
Review: This is the only Madison biography I've read in its entirety for fun rather than in piecemeal for academic research, so I can't say that there is a better one-volume book out there about the Father of the Constitution. That being said, I hope there is a better one out there or that there will be one day soon. If you can get through it, you'll get a lot out of "James Madison: A Biography". Madison played such a vital and varied role in the early years of our nation that you would think any book about the man would be fascinating. Ketcham's book is very good, in terms of providing information, but it's not engaging like David McCullough's "John Adams" or Stephen Ambrose's Eisenhower biography, for example. If you're reading for scholarly reasons, this is an excellent source. If you are reading solely for entertainment, you may want to look elsewhere (consider yourself warned). This does not mean that "James Madison" is devoid of interesting nuggets of information about and personality quirks of the Founding Father. Madison was such a hypochondriac, it's almost comical. For someone who declared himself at death's door over and over throughout his life, he lived to the ripe old age of 85. Considering all his contributions to our nation, we should all probably be grateful that he treated himself like he was a tender veal cutlet. I think this book could have been written in a way that would have made it so much more interesting and I was disappointed that a book I so looked forward to reading became such a chore.
Rating: 
Summary: An in-depth one volume biography
Review: This was a well written biography. It explores the public and private life of the fourth president. The book is a deep one volume work about James Madison. I particularly enjoyed the author's fascinating coverage of the events surrounding Madison's career: For example, there is a great deal to learn here about the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention not only about the role Madison played in them. Not only does the author write about historical events but he also presents interesting accounts of Madison's friendships and antagonistic political relationships. I also finished this book with a good sense about the political climate surrounding Madison's public career. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it invites further study. The only fault I found worth mentioning was the speculativeness of the first two chapters. Instead of simply writing that we know little about Madison's early life, the author tried to fill in the missing years with his surmises.
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