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From Radical to Unifier
by CW Goodyear
The first comprehensive biography in decades of the extraordinary, tragic life of America's twentieth president—James Garfield.
In this magisterial biography, C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixer and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated. James Abram Garfield was all these things and more.
Over nearly two decades in Congress during a polarized era—Reconstruction and the Gilded Age—Garfield served as a peacemaker in a Republican Party and America defined by divisions. He was elected President to overcome them. He was killed while trying to do so.
President Garfield is American history at its finest. It is about an impoverished boy working his way from the frontier to the Presidency; a progressive statesman, trying to raise a more righteous, peaceful Republic out of the ashes of civil war; the tragically imperfect course of that reformation, and the man himself; a martyr-President, whose death succeeded in nudging the country back to cleaner, calmer politics.
"Goodyear relates his subject's life in fascinating, comprehensive detail... . A masterful portrait of a man of great intellect, patience, and ability who should not be overlooked by history." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This fresh appraisal sheds new light on the history of American political polarity." ―Publishers Weekly
"Despite its engaging flowery prose, perhaps inspired by the literary aspects of Garfield's diaries, this book's length might attract only serious scholars. General readers may want to consider Benjamin Arrington's The Last Lincoln Republican." —Library Journal
"James A. Garfield has long been too narrowly remembered for his untimely end. This spirited biography gives us the man in full, suggesting the president he might have become. A fine first book from an energetic young scholar whose skills enhance every page." ―John Lewis Gaddis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of George Kennan
"Mr. Goodyear has given us an eloquent and moving biography of our 20th president. Born and raised in rural poverty, James Garfield raised himself up by his bootstraps, fought as a general in the Civil War, rose to leadership in postwar Congresses, challenged the tawdry politics of the Gilded Age, and suffered martyrdom by assassination that launched the beginnings of the end of the system that killed him. Goodyear's lucid prose disentangles the complexities and ambiguities of this story." ―James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom
"James Garfield, an American President known most for his death, is brought to life and sharply into focus in President Garfield. Meticulously researched and brilliantly narrated, Goodyear's account weaves together a fascinating figure of towering talents with the extraordinary times in which he lived." ―Stanley McChrystal, General, US Army (Retired), Founder & CEO, McChrystal Group
"In an era polarized like our own, James Garfield went from being a firebrand to an engineer of compromise and healing. Goodyear chronicles his evolution in a meticulously researched reappraisal." ―Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs
This information about President Garfield was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
C.W. Goodyear is an author and historian based in Washington, DC. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up abroad before graduating from Yale University.
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