Just as James Madison has often labored in Thomas Jefferson's historical shadow, so James Monroe has labored in Madison's. Founding Rivals examines Madison and Monroe's fascinating partnership, and their temporary falling out over the Constitution which led Monroe to challenge Madison for election to the first Congress. We may forgive DeRose for his hyperbole about Madison's 1789 election "saving a nation," because one would be hard pressed to think of another political matchup with as much historic significance, save perhaps for Lincoln-Douglas in 1858.

Monroe was a man of serious ideas and impeccable Patriot credentials. The book, however, is unabashedly pro-Madison and pro-Constitution, and presents Monroe favorably when he agrees with Madison. DeRose takes for granted that the government under the Articles of Confederation was repulsively inept, and contends that Anti-Federalists such as Monroe represented, collectively, a bombastic "monster" spewing "utterly specious" arguments against Madison's brilliant frame of government. The only Anti-Federalist position DeRose commends is their support, over Federalist objections, of a Bill of Rights.

I think there's more to be said for both the Articles of Confederation and the Anti-Federalists. (You might expect this from the author of an admiring biography of Patrick Henry, the chief Anti-Federalist.) Founding Rivals tends simply to reaffirm popular assumptions about the manifest necessity of the Constitution, and the bone-headedness of the Anti-Federalists.

When you get beyond the details of Madison and Monroe's relationship, there are occasional problems in the book, including an extended misunderstanding of Henry's plan for a "general assessment" to support multiple Christian denominations (not just the Episcopal Church) in the mid-1780s. Still, DeRose delivers a compelling story of the relatively unknown contest between Madison and Monroe, which is a welcome accomplishment.

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history at Baylor University and is the author of Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots.

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