SOURCE: "At the Roots of Democracy," in The New York Times Book Review, September 16, 1945, pp. 1, 26.

In the following review, Nevins praises Schlesinger's The Age of Jackson for its broad scope, but criticizes it for being "excessively hostile" toward the Whig party.

When American democracy is most kinetic, when its transitions are most abrupt, and when its ideas take on their most revolutionary hue, then it is best worth studying. The so-called Jacksonian revolution has always made a deep appeal to the American imagination. The tremendous bouleversement which dislodged the old ruling class typified by John Quincy Adams and brought to power an untried aggressive set of leaders with a new backing, was mightily dramatic. Jackson's imperious personality was the most ruggedly picturesque that public life had yet known, and his election opened a series of political battles which shook the country. But the chief reason for our interest...