Bosom Friends Audiobook By Thomas J. Balcerski cover art

Bosom Friends

The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King

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Bosom Friends

By: Thomas J. Balcerski
Narrated by: Rick Adamson
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About this listen

In Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, Thomas J. Balcerski explores the lives of these two politicians and discovers one of the most significant collaborations in American political history. He traces the parallels in the men's personal and professional lives before elected office, including their failed romantic courtships and the stories they told about them.

Unlikely companions from the start, they lived together as congressional messmates in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse and became close confidantes. Around the nation's capital, the men were mocked for their effeminacy and perhaps their sexuality, and they were likened to Siamese twins.

Over time, their intimate friendship blossomed into a significant cross-sectional political partnership. Balcerski examines Buchanan's and King's contributions to the Jacksonian political agenda, manifest destiny, and the increasingly divisive debates over slavery, while contesting interpretations that the men lacked political principles and deserved blame for the breakdown of the union.

He closely narrates each man's rise to national prominence, as William Rufus King was elected vice president in 1852 and James Buchanan the nation's 15th president in 1856, despite the political gossip that circulated about them.

©2019 Oxford University Press (P)2020 Tantor
American Civil War History & Theory Military Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State Wars & Conflicts Civil War American History War War of 1812
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The narrator's presentation made listening easy and the material readily understandable. I highly recommend this audiobook

Nuanced in outlook but supported by detailed references to the available primary sources.

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This book feels like a 5 page college essay stretched to create a book. If your interest is historic events or even the personalities that formed them this book offers little insight and takes forever to do it.

Expanded college essay

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