Robert Vincent Remini (July 17, 1921 – March 28, 2013) was an American historian and a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

For the third volume of Andrew Jackson, subtitled The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845, he won the 1984 U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction.

[2][3] Remini also wrote biographies of other early 19th century Americans, namely Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, and Joseph Smith.

"I remember we docked at Boston and I went to the library and took out all nine volumes of Henry Adams' history of the U.S. under Jefferson and Madison," he told the Chicago Tribune.

'"[6] Remini married Ruth T. Kuhner, whom he had met in kindergarten, in 1948 and they had three children: Elizabeth Nielson, Joan Costello, and Robert W.

The book examines Van Buren's role in building a cross-sectional coalition which formed the foundation for the rise of Jacksonian democracy and the eventual creation of the Democratic Party.

Historian Richard K. McMaster, who graduated from Fordham University in 1962, wrote in 2009 that Remini was great at "making American history an interesting story."

McMaster said, "I remember him as a remarkably kind man, genuinely interested in his students and encouraging of our efforts at research.

He had the uncanny ability to present the Age of Jackson with such immediacy that you might think he'd had lunch in the Ramskeller with Martin Van Buren.

The work led to his appointment as Historian of the United States House of Representatives by Speaker Dennis Hastert on April 28, 2005.

[7] Remini's initial books on Andrew Jackson convinced him to write a fuller account of the man's life.

[12][13] He held that had Jackson not orchestrated the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their ancestral homelands, they would have been totally wiped out, just like other tribes-namely, the Yamasees, Mohicans, and Narragansetts–which did not move.

Meacham said, "He was practicing a kind of narrative historical biographical craft at exactly the moment when most of the academy was moving toward intellectual and group-driven history."

Cayton wrote in a New York Times book review of Remini's Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars (2001).

"[4] A 1984 review by James M. Banner of the New York Times of the final volume of Remini's Jackson trilogy says that "he cannot be said to be respectful of interpretations more skeptical than his own, nor of being detached."

[13] Historian Andrew Burstein stated in his 2003 Jackson biography that "one must read Remini discerningly," charging him with "creative storytelling" that "appears to have imbibed too well the campaign biographies and other works by Jackson's closest associates...Remini has styled an heroic saga that places the individual before all other historical forces, privileging 'greatness' over more useful (and more critical) measures of politics and culture...I would not single out Professor Remini for criticism except that he is the reigning Jackson authority, and his single-minded emphasis on 'greatness' limits the kinds of questions he asks.

"[18] In a 2011 article, Mark Cheathem argued that Remini downplayed the role of slavery in Jacksonian history, and that his hegemony as biographer "seemed to discourage other historians from tackling Jackson's life.

"[19] Remini wrote a one-volume abridgment to the original three-volume series, called The Life of Andrew Jackson, which was published in 1988.

[7] Remini also wrote biographies of other prominent Americans of the early 19th century, namely Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, and Joseph Smith.

"[21] Historian Otis A. Singletary writes that the biography of Clay was "thoroughly researched and written in a lively and engaging style.

[23] A review by Richard Latner states: for specialists, Remini's thoroughness and scope make this work an essential resource on Webster and the indispensable, standard biography....In [his] multivolume, award-winning Jackson study, subject matter and style meshed harmoniously.

This is a 'life and times' work, and given the significance and scope of Webster's career, it is no minor accomplishment to render an engaging portrait in one volume.

According to a book review: Remini's final chapters are slightly rushed and his judgments too general to be useful, but these flaws are easily overshadowed by his masterful middle sections focusing on the 19th century (his scholarly specialty).

[6] In a review of the book, Russell McClintock praises Remini for his engaging writing style and depiction of Clay, which he calls "both heroic and credible," but accuses him of overemphasizing the importance of compromise and overlooking times when it did not work.

McClintock summarized his thoughts by calling the book "a concise and lively account of a critical but understudied episode that, while it breaks no new scholarly ground, does raise valuable points about the importance of compromise in republican government.