PositiveThe Wall Street JournalTim McGrath’s biography...shows how Monroe’s character and experiences over a long career shaped his doctrine: a worthy capstone of an interesting public life ... Mr. McGrath, an independent scholar whose specialty is the naval history of the American Revolution, writes enough lively phrases—the young Lafayette had \'a nearly unbearable exuberance\'—to make the reader wish he had written more. Still, James Monroe: A Life capably tells the story of a man who missed greatness, but achieved competence—something not every president has done.
