American Lion (2008)

The seventh president of the United States, a scrappy frontier lawyer-turned-gentleman planter, was best described by a childhood wrestling mate: ''I could throw him three times out of four, but he would never stay throwed.'' Jon Meacham bolsters American Lion, his bio of Andrew Jackson, with recently discovered documents, adding new depth to issues Old Hickory faced, such as ''Indian removal'' (he believed all Native Americans should be relocated west of the Mississippi). This is no dry recitation of history: The skinny, rangy Jackson — the only president ever to attack a would-be assassin, and the only one with a musket ball lodged in his chest — comes alive on the page. A