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Biography on William Henry Harrison?
April 15, 2010 10:44 AM   Subscribe

Can anyone recommend a good biography of United States president William Henry Harrison?

I decided a while back that I would like to read a biography of each United States president, in order to further my own knowledge of United States history. So far, I am up to William Henry Harrison, the ninth president. The problem I am running into is that he was only in office for about thirty days before he died. So there's not really an authoritative biography that I have been able to find. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
posted by GatorFan2000 to law & government (6 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Over 400 pages. I don't know how good it is (mixed customer reviews on Amazon).
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:05 AM on April 15, 2010


Hey! I'm doing the same thing. I'm on Millard Fillmore.

The WHH book I read was Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. It focuses mostly on his time in Ohio and Indiana, but it was very interesting and well-written. In the course of this presidential biography project I've found that many of the books tend to focus on the political events that occurred while they were president, rather than the men they were. This one did a good job of conveying his personality and values while still placing his life in historical context.
posted by something something at 11:17 AM on April 15, 2010


I like Allan Eckert's books, The Frontiersmen and A Sorrow in Our Hearts. Both are about the 18th century history of the Northwest Territory. WHH is not the main focus of either book, but he has a role in each, both of which are compelling reading.
posted by putzface_dickman at 1:35 PM on April 15, 2010


Oops. WHH is in That Dark and Bloody River, not A Sorrow in Our Hearts.
posted by putzface_dickman at 1:58 PM on April 15, 2010


The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party by Michael Holt goes into a lot of detail about him and his Whig successors.
posted by spamguy at 2:23 PM on April 15, 2010


Someone at Grouseland (his Indiana home) might be able to help.
posted by brujita at 11:21 PM on April 15, 2010


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