Full name: Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield

Author: Kenneth D. Ackerman Year: 2003 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Biographies, Non Fiction, Politics, True crime Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780786713967 9781619450066 0786713968 1619450062

Capitol Hill veteran Kenneth Ackerman re-creates an American political landscape where fierce battles for power unfolded against a chivalrous code of honor in a country struggling to emerge from the long shadow of the Civil War. James Garfield's 1880 dark horse campaign after the longest-ever Republican nominating convention, his victory in the closest-ever popular vote for president, his struggle against bitterly feuding factions once elected, and the public's response to his assassination is the most dramatic presidential odyssey of the Gilded Age--and among the most momentous in our nation's history. This journey through political backrooms, dazzling convention floors, and intrigue-filled congressional and White House chambers, reveals the era's decency and humanity as well as the sharp partisanship that exploded in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau, the disgruntled patronage-seeker eager to replace the elected Commander-in-Chief with one of his own choosing. Similar books: The Presidents of the United States of America by Frank Freidel The Age of Eisenhower by William I. Hitchcock Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss Three Days in January by Bret Baier James A. Garfield by Ira Rutkow In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech Taking Charge by Michael Beschloss Garfield by Allan Peskin The President and the Assassin by Scott Miller All the Presidents' Children by Doug Wead John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents by Cormac O'Brien The First Ladies by Margaret Brown Klapthor 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents by David Pietrusza Benjamin Harrison by Charles W. Calhoun All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein America the Beautiful by Ben Carson Fear by Bob Woodward Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe Crisis of Character by Gary J. Byrne