by Margaret Leech ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
In choosing the McKinley era for her concentrated study, Margaret Leech challenges the general assumption that a neglected period is an unimportant period. Actually the years spanned by McKinley's presidency -- 1896 to 1901, when his assassination brought the ebullient Theodore Roosevelt to the White House,- marked a turning point in our national history and character. We became an imperialist power, through the Spanish-American War and our subsequent- and questionable- acquisition of responsibility for Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines. Our diplomacy became a factor at the bargaining tables of the Western World -- and the Boxer Rebellion precipitated us violently into happenings in the Orient. Names famous in our annals appeared on the scene:- Elihu Root, Mark Hanna, numerous representatives of the armed services. The McKinley Tariff, which antedates the presidency, set a keynote to McKinely's role in the party; the Hay-Pauncefort Treaty, equally unpopular in its day, stressed yet another facet of a changing scene. By and large, as the panorama unfolds, from McKinley's years of apprenticeship -- from Congressman to Governor to President -- to the years of achievement, the reader finds himself caught up in a shared sense of excitement and participation, an immediacy of mood and event, a contemporary echo that gives one a sense of ""this is where I came in"" as history repeats itself. Miss Leech has a rare gift of thorough scholarship so skillfully synthesized that one absorbs the facts effortlessly, while at the same time one feels integral to the thinking, the emotions, the response. As a social portrait of an era this is, perhaps, less vivid than Reveille in Washington; as a portrait of a man, beloved, revered, perhaps understated as a great president, and as a political and diplomatic and military history, this makes a great contribution to our historical understanding.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1959
Categories: NONFICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.