A masterful portrait of a man of great intellect, patience, and ability who should not be overlooked by history.
The first extensive biography of the scholar, soldier, and statesman whose short-lived presidency influenced change and even unity in American government.
In his debut book, Washington, D.C.–based historian Goodyear chronicles the life of James Garfield (1831-1881). In the acknowledgments, the author describes himself as “an embarrassingly starstruck” admirer of renowned biographer Edmund Morris, and his vividly descriptive style, buttressed by an exhaustive use of primary and secondary sources, effectively echoes the approach and prose in Morris' brilliant trilogy of the life of Theodore Roosevelt. Goodyear relates his subject’s life in fascinating, comprehensive detail, from his remarkable climb from onerous poverty in what was known as the Ohio Western Reserve to college president, state legislator, brigadier, major general in the Civil War, U.S. congressman, and president and his relationship with his indispensably patient, tolerant, and loving wife, Lucretia, whom Garfield labeled "unstampedable." The author displays a smooth aptitude for the complex postwar political workings of 19th-century machine politics and internecine Republican Party patronage squabbles, and he ably explores Garfield's relationships and tussles with the likes of James Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, and Conkling's lieutenant, Chester Arthur. Goodyear describes Garfield’s remarkably even, conciliatory deportment, which made him a friend to nearly all in his various stations and won him the 1880 Republican presidential nomination. He also offers a gripping account of a deranged office seeker's attack that would eventually end the president’s life and how his legacy helped foster comity and reform in American politics and government. Goodyear's invaluable biography breaks Garfield free from the group of late-19th-century presidents seemingly crystallized as interchangeable, bearded figures occupying the first chair of a weakened executive branch and offers a compelling profile of one of the ablest men to serve as president.
A masterful portrait of a man of great intellect, patience, and ability who should not be overlooked by history.Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781982146917
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.
Rootin’-tootin’ history of the dry-gulchers, horn-swogglers, and outright killers who populated the Wild West’s wildest city in the late 19th century.
The stories of Wyatt Earp and company, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and Geronimo and the Apache Wars are all well known. Clavin, who has written books on Dodge City and Wild Bill Hickok, delivers a solid narrative that usefully links significant events—making allies of white enemies, for instance, in facing down the Apache threat, rustling from Mexico, and other ethnically charged circumstances. The author is a touch revisionist, in the modern fashion, in noting that the Earps and Clantons weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular culture has made them out to be. For example, Wyatt and Bat Masterson “took the ‘peace’ in peace officer literally and knew that the way to tame the notorious town was not to outkill the bad guys but to intimidate them, sometimes with the help of a gun barrel to the skull.” Indeed, while some of the Clantons and some of the Earps died violently, most—Wyatt, Bat, Doc Holliday—died of cancer and other ailments, if only a few of old age. Clavin complicates the story by reminding readers that the Earps weren’t really the law in Tombstone and sometimes fell on the other side of the line and that the ordinary citizens of Tombstone and other famed Western venues valued order and peace and weren’t particularly keen on gunfighters and their mischief. Still, updating the old notion that the Earp myth is the American Iliad, the author is at his best when he delineates those fraught spasms of violence. “It is never a good sign for law-abiding citizens,” he writes at one high point, “to see Johnny Ringo rush into town, both him and his horse all in a lather.” Indeed not, even if Ringo wound up killing himself and law-abiding Tombstone faded into obscurity when the silver played out.
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21458-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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