5 comments about James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies , Vol 12).

1. Malone's book is a good introduction for people interested in the early history of the Northwest, the Great Northern Railway, and the man who greatly influenced both. While not as detailed as Martin's 1976 bio, Martin's is at least twice as long and too tedious for many readers.

   Both Martin and Malone had access to the James J. Hill papers, a collection of almost every business paper Hill ever handled that is located in the Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, MN. Except for Pyle, previous Hill biographers and railroad historians did not see those papers, such much of what they say is more rumor than fact. Malone (and Martin) set the stories straight.




2. A new favorite of our staff..and recomended to our members who would like to understand the Northwest in a brand new light. Malone is an excellent writer and this book a gem !



3. Perhaps the author should have written a history of the Northwest, and northern railroads. I found very little of the persona of James J. Hill in this. It is a very historical narritive, not very biographic.



4. «The wealth of the country, its capital, its credit, must be saved from the predatory poor as well as the predatory rich, but above all from the predatory politician» - James J. Hill.

   In her 1962 lecture, «America's Persecuted Minority : Big Business», Ayn Rand distinguished two types of entrepreneurs, whom Burton Folsom Jr. was later to label «economic» and «political»: «self-made men who earned their fortunes by personal ability, by free trade on a free market» and «men with political pull, who made fortunes by means of special privileges granted to them by the government.» And according to her, James Jerome Hill was an arch-representative of the former group, because he built his transcontinental railroad, the Great Northern, «without any federal help whatever.»

   Michael P. Malone's admiration for Hill, on the other hand, is much more moderate (and for those who think such moderation unjust, he is kind enough to direct us to Albro Martin's «highly laudatory» two-volume biography of Hill, *James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest*)

   For instance, he puts the phrase «self-made man» in quotation marks when applying it to Hill, for, he says, Hill's fortune «sprout... from the rich seedbed of federal subsidy»: by completing his first large scale project in time (the Manitoba railroad), Hill managed to reap the «seventh largest of the original seventy-five railroad grants», located mostly in the fertile Red River valley. Therefore, Malone says, we should forget the «hoariest, and most mischievous, of all the many legends surrounding Hill»- the one perpetrated by Ayn Rand and, after her, Burton Folsom Jr.- which «rhapsodizes about how he built a great transcontinental line without the benefit of a federal land grant.»

   Was Hill therefore just another political entrepreneur? I don't think so.

   First, Malone here seems to be conflating federal subsidies and land grants. A federal subsidy, in my understanding, is a transfer of money or produced goods, which by its very essence involves a forced redistribution and is therefore immoral. A land grant, on the other hand, consists in the granting of a non-improved natural resource to its actual developer, in a good approximation of the Lockean ideal of acquisition through labour. What makes it a form of «federal aid» is only the government's assumption of the power to acquire land by some non-Lockean process (i.e. by fiat, or in this case, purchase from another government that had acquired the land by fiat.)

   Second, the lands granted to the railroads actually owed most of their value to the building of the roads. As Clarence Carson explains in *Throttling the Railroads* : «the lands granted [however fertile] were worth little to nothing on the market at the time they were granted.» This was so because cultivating those lands would have been economically hopeless without the cheap transportation to population centers provided by the railroads.

   And third, Malone's metaphor makes it sound as though Hill's fortune merely grew out of the «soil» of federal subsidy by some natural, automatic process or, to mix metaphors, a snowball effect. Actually, the building of the Manitoba railroad is only chapter 2 of the biography, and there are 6 more chapters to go in which Malone himself offers ample illustration that the building of Great Northern and the rest of Hill's achievements did not simply «sprout» from the government's bounty.

   Whatever the motivations for Malone's very mixed final estimate of Hill, he does grant his subject a certain number of admirable character traits, which confirm Edwin Locke's conclusions in *The Prime Movers*. For instance, Malone singles out the following as Hill's distinctive traits in chapter 4: «his remarkable mastery over every detail of what was now a far-flung operation, his vision of the inevitable triumph of transcontinental through-carriers [together forming Locke's virtue of «independent vision»], his insufferable [Malone again...] iron will and work ethic [Locke's «drive to action»], and his recruitment of an able coterie of men [Locke's «love of ability in others»].» And this is only Malone himself trying to summarize Hill's virtues : the book offers much more concrete material for you to make your own identifications and corroborate Locke's analysis.

   The flaw of *Empire Builder of the Northwest*, in my opinion, is that it is merely interesting and informative where, given its subject, it could have been epic. Malone himself is no great enthusiast of economic freedom: at one point, he refers to «the simplistic bromides of laissez-faire». Moreover, the book only offers two maps, which makes following some of the descriptions rather difficult. However, if you do not have the time for Albro Martin's longer work and are frustrated by the mere 22 pages in Folsom's *The Myth of the Robber Barons*, Malone's book remains a good introduction to the life of an immensely productive and hardworking man, who was also a voracious reader, a faithful husband and- as the opening quote reveals- a «true believer in the virtues of unfettered capitalism».




5. Right up front Malone admits this is neither an authoritative nor exhaustive biography of Jim Hill and he keeps his promise. But as a pretty quick (280 page) read of Hill it is a solid book if slightly antiseptic and repetitive at times. It is particularly interesting if you want to know more about the history of the Great Northern Railway.

5 comments about Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President.

1. I found this book hard to put down. I had not realized all the things this obscure first lady was involved with in her life. She looks like somebody's stern grandmother so when I idly looked through this book, I was surprised to find myself drawn in immediately. It is a large book, but I read it very fast as I just could not put it down. This is how a biography should be written, it is well researched and yet still reads almost like a novel.



2. How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.



3. Writer Carl Anthony has composed an outstanding biography in his work Florence Harding. Harding Florence Harding been one of the more easily understood or admired First Lady's in this nations history, this book would have been written years ago. However, Mrs. Harding's legacy has been in the past told and retold more as a tabloid story than factual account.
   
   When approaching this book, one needs to understand how Mrs. Harding's legacy was tainted by three men, none of which was her husband Warren G. Harding. First, Gaston Means - a grifter and one time low level FBI agent - did a master job at maligning the deceased Mrs. Harding in his book, The Strange Death of President Harding, a ghost written work that was penned by a tabloid jouranlist who sued Means when he failed to honor his obligations to the writer. In this book, Means paints the picture of Mrs. harding that is pervasive in American Pop Culture: that Mrs. Harding was clueless love lorn hag, who spent her time with mystics plotting the Presidents next moves in star charts. This is an image that the public bought, hook, line and sinker.
   
   The other two men who betrayed Mrs. Harding were her doctor, Charles E. Sawyer and his son Dr. Carl Sawyer. The Sawyers held Mrs. Harding in their sway - she believed that they were great medical doctors, however it was the elder Sawyer's mis diagnosis of President Harding's heart condition as food poisoning. When Charles Sawyer discovered that the widowed First Lady's kidney ailment acted up, he travelled to Washington DC and demanded that Florence return to Marion Ohio for treatment at his private Sanatorium rather than seek treatment at at the better suited facilities in Washington. Mrs, Harding was placed in a cottage at the facility, and then kept at the facility by Sawyer's son Carl after the elder Sawyer died. Following Mrs. Harding's death, Dr. Carl Sawyer assummed total control of the Harding Memorial Association and maintained an iron grip on the Harding legacy until his death in the 1960s. As with all great dictators, Carl Sawyer controlled all aspects of the Harding legacy. As a result, the public never had a fair opportunity to study the Harding's, but rather were fed a steady stream of "approved" information about the couple.
   
   Anthony's work goes the distance in seperating the negative myths from the honest truths in her life, which by any standard was not charmed. However, the author does take liberties in communicating his emotions about Mrs. Harding. He believes that she has been mis-portrayed and his passion about correcting that sometimes overstates her case. However, his book is very well documented by copious endnotes and reliable first person accounts and primary documents.
   
   This book will never be a New York Times best seller - the public would rather believe that Harding Myths inseatd of the facts - but for those who care to learn more about the truths of the 29th President and his most remarkable wife, this is a satisfying and accurate book to read.



4. The Harding administration is buried in 20th century obscurity. Aside from the words "Teapot Dome", which few laymen know anything about, and the overriding scandal that dogged Harding's reputation after he left office, there are few people who would even know the name of the first lady.
   
   Florence Harding portrays the image of a plain, dowdy hayseed, but the author brings her to life in the context of an amazing time in our history.
   
   The 1920's were a time of a burgeoning economy, a rich underground economy with speakeasies, amazing jazz, racial awareness, and a recovery from World I. Florence Harding worked behind the scenes to prop her husband up to the challenge of the presidency. Recent revisionist historians have re-examined his presidency to look at his leadership, and his vision beyond the republican side of the aisle.
   
   Florence Harding welcomed in the Jazz Age, consulted "spiritual advisors", and looked at feminist causes long before many of her contemporaries. She also loved and adored her husband, looking past his infidelities, and his out-of-wedlock children.
   
   Warren Harding was in over his head as President. He was an innocent idealist who was thrust into a dark horse candidacy by unscrupulous men who he believed were his friends. He was also a popular and beloved President at he time of his death.
   
   This book, however, is about his wife. She was a tirelessly driven woman, cannily intelligent, with a strength that propelled her to the pinnacle of American leadership.
   
   It is a story few would undertake to tell, and it is riveting. While Florence Harding never comes off as likable, she is portrayed as loyal, admirable, and visionary beyond her time. There is a touching passage, as she sits next to Warren's open coffin, when she tells her husband "nobody can hurt you now, W'urrn".
   
   She clearly understood the power of the office, and the damage it had done to her husband.
   
   An engrossing biography, on an unlikely subject.



5. The Washington Times wrote a terrific review of this book, which follows:
   
   A President Of the Peephole
   By Carl Sferrazza Anthony
   Special to The Washington Post
   Sunday, June 7, 1998
   
   Fearing revelations about his illicit affair with a young campaign volunteer - which included sex in an Oval Office hideaway while under the guard of Secret Service agents - the president realized that stonewalling was ultimately futile. He stunned a private party of reporters at the National Press Club by confessing his carnal desires.
   
   "It's a good thing I am not a woman," the president said. "I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."
   
   In this administration, the scandals never seemed to end. There was the strange suicide of an administration official, made even more mysterious by a note that disappeared. Then came an investigation into payoffs and coverups connected to a notorious land deal. The president's friends launched smear campaigns against his perceived foes. Dossiers were compiled; private eyes and snitches deployed. Affidavits were drafted in which various women denied liaisons with the president. Jobs were arranged to keep people quiet.
   
   Through it all, a steel-willed first lady kept the press at bay and did whatever was necessary to defend her husband's reputation - even if it meant destroying evidence.
   
   The scandals erupted at a time when technological advances in communication were feeding a nation hungry for distraction, and the economy was booming. Sex sold - and the ravenous press corps was all too happy to name names and offer seamy details. The president and his wife boosted their public image by bringing Hollywood stars to the White House; they knew the value of glamour and the power of celebrity. It also helped that he was a genial populist and inveterate shaker of hands, fond of golf and cards, a man of the people.
   
   Ladies thought him virile and handsome; he photographed well.
   For some reason, all of this seems familiar. Whatever else may be said of Warren Gamaliel Harding - whose tenure as 29th president ended with his peculiar, premature death in 1923 - he was a truly modern politician. His administration, which reeked of corruption, offers a prototype for Washington scandals. Whitewater, Iran-contra and Watergate are better known today, but the granddaddy of them all was Teapot Dome, a political maelstrom that broke 75 years ago this month and is still hard to top in terms of sheer outrageousness.
   
   Harding, a small-town Ohio newspaper publisher, was uniquely unsuited for the job of president - and he knew it. "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here," he once said. But he "looked like a president," as one major backer put it, and his wife, Florence, was instrumental in shepherding his political career. (The press considered Florence, known as the Duchess, to be the power behind the throne; one cartoon depicted the couple as "The Chief Executive and Mr. Harding.") Harding, a one-term Republican senator, won the job by promising Americans a "return to normalcy" after World War I.
   
   Though his legacy was soiled, his domestic achievements were substantial: the 40-hour work week, improved health care for new mothers, the first balanced-budget bureau, a focus on technology. And we have to give Harding credit for establishing a venerable institution: the Washington gossip mill. Based on new documentation, here's a reprise of the Harding era.
   
   I love your back, I love your breasts
   Darling to feel, where my face rests,
   I love your skin, so soft and white,
   So dear to feel and sweet to bite. . . .
   I love your poise of perfect thighs,
   When they hold me in paradise. . . .
   -- A Harding poem to one of his mistresses, Carrie Phillips
   
   No president had more "women scrapes," as his attorney general put it, than Warren G. His first affair, three years into his marriage to Florence, was with Susie Hodder - his wife's best friend from childhood - resulting in the birth of a daughter. His second affair was with Florence's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips. It lasted 15 years. His third enduring mistress was his Senate aide, Grace Cross.
   Number four was the most infamous and the first presidential mistress to write a memoir: In the large Oval Office closet, the president had at least one tryst with Nan Britton, a campaign volunteer who had started having sex with Harding when he was 51 and she was 22. Their assignations, facilitated by Secret Service agents James Sloan and Walter Ferguson ("Harding hated to have them around, for he despised being watched," reported the chief usher), came to an abrupt stop when another agent, Harry Barker, tipped Florence off, and she ran down for a confrontation.
   
   It was in Harding's Senate office, late one night in the winter of 1919, that Britton claimed she conceived their daughter, Elizabeth Ann. They disrobed because Harding wanted to "visualize" her while he worked there during the day. Britton worried that they lacked the "usual paraphernalia which we always took to the hotels . . . and of course, the Senate Offices do not provide preventive facilities for use in such emergencies."
   
   He had assorted other flings, including one with Rosa Hoyle, said to have conceived his only illegitimate son, and one with Augusta Cole, whose pregnancy by Harding was terminated. He bedded a Washington Post employee known as Miss Allicott, and former chorus girls Maize Haywood and Blossom Jones - all procured by Harding's crony, Washington Post publisher and owner Ned McLean. And then there's the string of "New York women" - including one who committed suicide after Harding wouldn't marry her, and another who had a stash of incriminating love letters purchased by Harding loyalists.
   
   The president even publicly ogled Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, in Atlantic City, days after her crowning.
   
   Follow the Money
   
   Just weeks after his inauguration in 1921, Harding approved Interior Secretary Albert Fall's request to transfer oil reserves from the Navy Department to Fall's control. Fall then secretly leased the reserve at Elks Hills, Calif., to oilman Edward Doheny and the one at Teapot Dome, Wyo., to Harry Sinclair - in exchange for a "loan" of cash and stock worth nearly $400,000, delivered in a small black satchel, and a "gift" of $100,000 from Doheny. Fall became the first Cabinet member to be thrown in prison.
   
   Col. Charles Forbes, the first director of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, created by Harding, was particularly close to the first lady. She saw to his appointment, and entrusted him with $450 million to build hospitals and provide decent medical care for the thousands of disabled veterans of World War I, on whose behalf the Duchess was a national activist.
   
   Instead, he bilked tens of thousands out of building contractors and medical supply companies. He was eventually imprisoned - but not before Harding personally throttled him against the Red Room wall in the White House.
   
   Although Attorney General Harry Daugherty, a Harding crony and campaign manager, eluded conviction on a variety of pardon-selling and influence-peddling charges, his Justice Department was riddled with malfeasance, kickbacks and payoffs. One of the department's central tasks was to intimidate any Harding mistress who threatened the president with blackmail.
   
   High Officials
   
   Evalyn McLean, the Post publisher's wife, was a confidante of Mrs. Harding and an admitted intermittent morphine addict. Despite Prohibition, she also was a heavy drinker and speakeasy regular - but then, so were her husband and other ranking government officials: Albert Fall, Col. Forbes and the president's chief aide, George Christian. In the Veterans Bureau, stories eventually broke about flapper secretaries and young officers having a regular cocktail hour, with shakers and glasses at the ready, overseen by Forbes.
   
   The president served liquor freely in the present-day Yellow Oval Room to his guests. Alice Longworth - a regular at poker - recalled that the first lady mixed the drinks. "No rumor could have exceeded the truth. . . . [T]rays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey stood about," she remembered. And, according to recently declassified FBI reports, Harding was drunk on whiskey during an Oval Office confrontation with railroad union leaders during their 1922 strike.
   
   At the center of the capital's most elite bootlegging service was Jess Smith - who, even though never an employee or even a volunteer at the Justice Department, used official letterhead, cars and staff, and sat in on private meetings with FBI Director Billy Burns. Smith enjoyed these perks as the bachelor companion of the attorney general. Smith also served as the first lady's favorite escort and arbiter of her jaunty '20s fashions.
   
   Through the Justice Department, Smith had access to whiskey supplies confiscated by Prohibition agents, and some of the booze went directly to the White House, and to the McLeans, while the rest was kept for parties at the "Love Nest," the small house shared by Smith and Daugherty, complete with a pink taffeta bedroom.
   
   Hollywood Values
   
   Working closely with Republican National Committee Chairman Will Hays during the 1920 campaign, Florence Harding conceived of recruiting Hollywood movie stars to support her husband. Al Jolson was drafted to head the Harding-Coolidge Theatrical League, and on Aug. 24, 1920, the marriage of politics and entertainment was forged forever when Jolson brought 40 movie stars to the Harding home for a campaign rally.
   
   The White House became a little Hollywood. On any given day, D.W. Griffith, the Gish sisters or Tom Mix might pose for newsreel cameras with the Hardings. When Hays left his job as postmaster general to become president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, he developed a "project to link the White House with the motion picture industry" by providing a movie library. All of this was nothing short of immoral to old society. The religious press took even greater offense to Florence's ringing the stately halls with jazz for the first time. The Biblical Recorder excoriated the Hardings for "setting a bad example by joining in the modern dance with its 'jazz' music."
   
   Squelching the Bimbos
   
   There was a good reason for Jess Smith having a vaguely defined association with the Justice Department. In this way, he was able to act at the implicit direction of the attorney general and FBI director and carry out a systematic intimidation of Harding mistresses who threatened to do as Carrie Phillips did and demand blackmail for their love letters. At one point, in exchange for apparently small amounts of money, affidavits disclaiming rumors of their liaisons were wrestled out of Evelyn Ruby, Augusta Cole and Cecilia Hoyle, and made their way to the first lady.
   
   In April 1921, Ned McLean officially became an agent of the FBI, and did his utterly unethical best to destroy any anti-Harding efforts he heard about as publisher of The Post. Such responsibilities included ripping the blouse of Nan Britton to try to snatch letters she claimed to be carrying - in the privacy of his editorial office.
   
   Even on the eve of his inauguration, Harding was providing more trouble for his troubleshooters. He had arranged a late-night rendezvous with Grace Cross, his Senate aide, in a Willard Hotel room. Some of his friends, recalled Olive Clapper, a reporter's wife, "ordered her to pack and get out of town, threatening to put the FBI on her trail if she didn't go at once. She was so frightened she left immediately."
   
   Psychic Guidance
   
   Mrs. Harding's diary, discovered last year at an Ohio barn auction, revealed her to be a true believer in crystal ball readings, the zodiac and clairvoyance. In February 1920, as a Senate wife, she had her first consultation with capital society's seer, "Madame Marcia." The psychic predicted that if Harding ran for president that year, he would be nominated - but that if he won the election, he would not live through his full term and instead die of "sudden, peculiar, violent . . . death by poison."
   
   Knowing that the blackmail price of $25,000 demanded by Carrie Phillips for the love letters could never be met unless her husband became a presidential nominee, Florence pushed him through the primaries on to the nomination, ignoring the ominous prediction. During the Harding presidency, Madame Marcia was regularly fetched by the first lady's Secret Service agent, brought through the back entrance and escorted to the presidential bedroom for zodiac updates. Madame Marcia also did horoscopes for the president's public appearances; the first lady was trying to protect him from numerous assassination and bomb threats.
   
   When Florence got early inklings of the Teapot Dome, Veteran's Bureau and Justice Department scandals, she asked Marcia to do astrological charts of Cabinet members - and used the results as evidence to remove some of the crooks from the administration.
   
   Blackmailers' Delight
   
   Newly discovered documents now prove that Harding was the only president successfully blackmailed by a mistress. Once he was nominated as the Republican candidate, the national GOP committee paid off Carrie Phillips's lump-sum demand of $25,000 and monthly stipend of $2,000, funneled through a secret bank account kept, apparently, under Jess Smith's name (the records were burned by Attorney General Daugherty).
   Once Harding became president, Phillips returned from an all-expense-paid trip abroad and demanded that her brother and son-in-law be given federal posts. It was done. Harding even circulated the name of Phillips's husband to be ambassador to Japan - before word got out why he thought a dry-goods salesman from Marion, Ohio, deserved the post and the idea was quashed.
   
   One night, when he was a senator, Harding had such a row with aide Grace Cross that she cut his back and the police were called. Thereafter, Cross went around town talking about a "birthmark" on the president's back that she could identify - undoubtedly the wound - which became part of her arsenal in unsuccessful attempts to get blackmail money. However, former Democratic attorney general Mitchell Palmer would later use his knowledge of the Cross affair to force Harding to drop a Justice Department prosecution against him.
   
   Crossing a Friend
   
   After a failed attempt to frame Cross with a phony affidavit claiming she was a liar and blackmailer, Smith approached Bertha Martin - a friend of Cross's - to try to get possession of the aide's love letters from Harding. Martin said she would turn on her friend on the condition that she was given the job of society editor at The Post. Smith went to McLean, who gave his nod. Martin took Cross to lunch, asked to see the letters, snatched them away and bolted out of the restaurant. She was made society editor - and still managed to stay friends with Cross, taking her on a European vacation, courtesy of the secret blackmail fund.
   
   Deadly Sins
   
   During a party at Smith and Daugherty's "Love Nest," some New York chorus girls were brought down to entertain a stag party. In attendance was the president. When glasses and bottles were being flung off the table so the dancing girls could perform, one Washington prostitute, identified only as a Miss Walsh, was knocked unconscious. Harding was hustled out. The woman died and was buried in a potter's field.
   
   In recently discovered transcripts of her taped revelations, Evalyn McLean recalled that the FBI director "railroaded" the woman's brother into St. Elizabeths mental hospital when he suggested a blackmail payment.
   
   Censorship by Book Burning
   
   "The Strange Death of President Harding," written in 1930 by the notorious perjurer and former FBI agent Gaston Means, implied that Florence Harding poisoned her husband in retaliation for his adultery, but the book has long been dismissed as a fabrication. New evidence shows that while Means lied in details, he told general truths. He said that he was part of an FBI effort to seize and destroy a small, privately printed book, "The Illustrated Life of Warren Gamaliel Harding," that revealed Harding's affair with Carrie Phillips, the RNC blackmail payoff and Florence's out-of-wedlock child by a common-law first husband.
   
   This turned out to be the only book suppressed by the government in peacetime. The entire action was illegal, and thus the boxes of books and updated manuscript inserts were taken not to any government property but to the McLean estate, where they were all burned. Well, not all: An original with the author's notes sits with none other than Evalyn
   
   
   Spying
   
   Among Gaston Means's other sensational charges was that he spied for the first lady on Nan Britton. In fact, it was probably Grace Cross - for at least one letter sent to her from the president's office was purloined and found its way into the file on Cross in the McLeans' private papers. Post reporter Vylla Poe Wilson later admitted that both "Mrs. Harding and Mrs. McLean were very jealous women, and they hired Gaston Means to follow Harding and McLean and report on their actions." In congressional hearings on the Justice Department, it was confirmed that Agent Means not only spied on Cross but the president's physician, Charles Sawyer, and his mistress, the first lady's housekeeper.
   
   Suicides
   
   Congress first heard tales of gross corruption at the Veterans Bureau in February 1923. Col. Forbes's colleague in kickbacks, Charles Cramer - the bureau's chief counsel, and the purchaser of the Hardings' Senate home - wrote out a letter to the president in his dining room, then stood before the bathroom mirror and shot himself. The letter mysteriously disappeared.
   
   At the start of the summer, the first big Harding scandal broke with the news that Jess Smith was found in his room with his head in a trash can, and a bullet in his head. The official word went out that it was a suicide due to health and emotional problems. Bertha Martin of The Post recalled that it was "noised about" town that Smith was a known homosexual, and that he was heartbroken over Daugherty's sudden rejection of his friendship when the president learned of Smith's nefarious activities. Others, like Evalyn McLean, simply believed Daugherty, Means or Burns had Smith killed because he knew too much. As for Martin, after a second career bootlegging whiskey to embassies, she was found dressed in her fur coat, pearls and white gloves with her head on the gas range, another alleged suicide.
   
   Negligent Homicide?
   
   Beginning on June 20, 1923, the Hardings sought to escape the heat and scandal of Washington on a 15,000-mile transcontinental train trip and voyage to Alaska. The president was 57 at the time. The recently unsealed diary and notes of naval physician Joel Boone reveal Boone's grave concerns about the president's heart condition. The warnings were ignored by longtime Harding homeopath "Doc" Sawyer, who made no effort to stop Harding from speaking in the blistering heat, driving the golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad, or doing other arduous tasks. In this Sawyer had the absolute approval of the first lady, who was now enjoying the height of her national popularity and didn't want the trip canceled. She viewed the incompetent Sawyer as her own Rasputin, who'd miraculously kept a chronic kidney ailment from killing her.
   
   When Harding suffered a bout of food poisoning from tainted crab meat at Cordova, Alaska, Doc Sawyer ultimately weakened the president's sick heart by treating him with heavy doses of purgatives to flush out the toxins. On Aug. 2, 1923, when Boone was out of the sickroom in San Francisco's Palace Hotel, Sawyer plied one too many purgatives - in Florence's presence - and Harding died. There was a quick coverup regarding who was in the room and at precisely what time the president died. Mrs. Harding refused to permit an autopsy or a death mask, protecting her beloved Sawyer. "Now that is all over," she told Evalyn McLean after Harding's death, "I think it was all for the best."
   
   Evidence Destruction
   
   At the McLean estate, aptly named Friendship, Evalyn permitted the widowed first lady to bring from the White House wood crates full of government documents (which may have been incriminating to Harding) and helped burn them. Even though Mrs. Harding was being spied on and her phone was tapped during the congressional investigations of the scandals, she was able to keep destroying documents within the privacy of her Willard Hotel suite.
   
   Four months after leaving Washington, Florence died at age 64 in Marion, Ohio. She was staying in a cottage on the grounds of the Sawyer Sanitarium "for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases," amid signs that read: "Please do not stare at the Patients."
   
   This article is adapted from Carl Sferrazza Anthony's just-published biography, "Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President" (Morrow).

1 comments about On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters from the Front.

1. "On the Altar of Freedom" was an interesting book in that it compiled the letters sent to a newspaper by Corporal James Gooding of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (the "Glory" outfit). By reading the letters (ie the book), one can get a view of Civil War life from the view of a black Union soldier. The major drawback to the work is that Gooding was sending the letters to the newspaper for the express purpose of them being published. What would have been more interesting would have been to see his private (if any) correspondence. That way the reader would have been able to see the private man. This book is also an interesting read because of the mention of unapolgetic black CSA sharpshooters being captured by Union forces outside Fort Wagner.

5 comments about RFK: A Memoir.

1. This book not only paints a beautiful and compelling portrait of Bobby Kennedy, it presents a very real and tangible snapshot of our country and the process of the political machine in the late 60s. Jack Newfield is (or sadly, was) a great writer who can keep the reader transfixed, most probably because this is his story as well. What Jack Newfield reveals to us about Bobby Kennedy is what he reveals to us about himself.



2. I believe Jack Newfield is an important journalist-- he refers to his importance regularly throughout the book RFK, a rambling, random, arrogant collection of casual glimpses and off-hand observations on RFK, that constantly refer to him being Irish, and suggest that we can understand him better because of that.
   
   There is no organization to this book-- it is not a close history, not a biography, hence, I guess, the title "RFK: A Memoir". It is a Memoir of a man who thought little of RFK-- by that I mean he didn't think RFK was all that great, but then he didn't think all that much about him. Did I mention Bobby was Irish. Because Newfield does. Frequently.
   
   Truly a horrible book. The key terms and thinkers referred to throughout: existentialism, Puritanism, Irish, and Norman Mailer.
   
   Honestly, the only high point is the section "Lydon Johnson: the Antichrist of the New Politics." Here Newfield quotes himself extensively, but at least he seems to have once cared about Johnson.



3. I wanted to read this book because of something George Stephanopoulos said in his book All Too Human. Jack Newfield certainly didn't disappoint. Despite the years that have passed since RFK was killed, the themes of human frailty, disillusionment and redemption still resonate.
   
   It seemed too, a much more real look into RFK than many other biographies and memoirs.



4. This is the portrait of Bobby Kennedy that captures why his last campaign changed some of our lives.
   I was only ten when RFK was assassinated and I went through high school during one of the most cynical periods of our political history: record distrust in government due to the death throes of the Viet Nam war and the disintegration of any respect for the presidency with Watergate (sound familiar????).
   A high school English teacher lent me this book when I was a senior in high school and it gave me new hope for our political process. Seeing Bobby Kennedy's capacity for change after JFK's death made me believe that it was possible to have a leader that listened, that grew from his own sorrows.
   The description of RFK informing a crowd at a housing project in Indianapolis of Dr. Martin Luther King's death stays with me after all these years (and Newfield's description rang in my ears as I visited the spot and the memorial to both men that has been built from melted down guns turned in by gang members on that spot).
   And David Frost's interivew with RFK in which he chillingly asked him what he would like his epitaph to be about a month before his death has stayed with me (and been up near my desk and computers for the last 30 + years): "I think back to what Camus wrote that perhaps this world is a world in which children suffer but you can lessen the number of suffering children and if you do not do this who will do this. I would like to think that I did something to lessen that suffering..."
   If you are going to buy anything to explore why RFK mattered, buy this book.



5. This guy was a genuine human being....not a political sound bite....not a fraud waving some banner of an ideology..he saw problems and tried to solve them or at least float solutions....he was a work in progress....

5 comments about Stonewall: A Biography of General Thomas J. Jackson.

1. I gave the book three stars for the information but the author's opinions make this book less valuable then it otherwise might have been. For instance he claims the fact that Jackson never lamented his decisions meant he never thought he made a mistake. Jackson wasn't the type of person to go around talking about feelings so no one knows if he did or not. Also the author claims he must have an child out of wedlock and cites sources (just the word sources and not actual people) while at the same time discounting others who claimed the rumors were a lie. The author is just a bit too judgmental and quick to believe things without any proof to back them up. The information may be okay but I found it hard to read with so many of the author's opinions being paraded around as facts.



2. This book is a "must read" for everyone looking for a balanced view of Jackson. Farwell's history of Jackson's military exploits and personal shortcomings (as in Florida prior to secession) are well supported by reference to original documents and by the author's personal research.



3. Biography's of great historical figures are frequently given to exaggeration. Farwell set out to give an account of the "real" Stonewall Jackson, rather than an overly ballyhooed legend. In some respects he did that, painting Jackson as an oddball, eccentric, prude, who bordered on insanity. While the book succeeded in painting Jackson as being more human, I felt the overall tone of the book was far too critical and cynical. It seemed every good thing Jackson did was credited to other soldiers or blind luck...while every bad thing Jackson did was blamed upon his ignorance, stubborness, or lack of sleep. In all honesty, I came away from the book wondering if the author had and "ax to grind" against Stonewall Jackson. Overall the book was well written, and would provide a reality check to those who envison Jackson as being super-human. But just as there are numerous puff pieces on Jackson that make him better than he was...I feel this book to be somewhat of a debunking, which makes Jackson look much worse than he was. In reality, he was somewhere in between. He was a good and godly man who had an uncanny ability to lead men in battle. But he was hard to get along with and a little too bull-headed at times. For a much more accurate view, I would suggest "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend" By James I. Robertson



4. Byron Farwell's biography of Stonewall Jackson is a comprehensive account of the life and military career of the famous Confederate general. Once I started reading the biography, I couldn't put it down, mainly because of the author's easy-to-read style (given that battles need to be described in reasonable detail). Useful maps accompany the text and enhance the reader's understanding, although the photographic section is somewhat brief.
   
   In contrast to some reviews here, I thought the author was fair and objective with Jackson: he cites first-hand accounts of Jackson's marches, battles and personality, though I'm not sure of the selectiveness or otherwise of these. If anything, he refrains from discussing and interpreting Jackson's strengths and weaknesses at length, leaving the reader to form his or her opinion. Given Jackson's personality, it would have been interesting to have included a comprehensive modern analysis of Jackson's psychological profile.
   
   I have yet to read other Jackson biographies, so I can't compare them with Farwell's biography, but I certainly don't regret buying this book. It made me appreciate the extreme hardships that Civil War soldiers experienced, and brought home the difficulties of serving under Jackson both as a soldier and as an officer, but at the same time it highlights Jackson's military genius and his 'warmer' side.



5. I must admit it was a "good influence" because it was of course heavily sanitized... and I remember it even finished BEFORE his death... leaving the hero marching with his troops to fight another day!... (pre-Chancellorsville ending). So maxims like YOU WILL ACHIEVE WHATEVER YOU PROPOSE TO YOURSELF... and similar I guess were/are "in the right spirit".
   
   As I have read other books by the same author... (and thought them very good and absolutely readable... which is always a BIG PLUS...), I decided to buy and read.
   In very few words, the man behind the myth is quite puzzling (probably and partially because of impairing deafness...) but less so if put in context... and that Mr. Farwell does brilliantly!.
   From birth to his death in the field of battle at Chancellorsville (actually he died from the wounds a few days later) his life is extremely well told, highs and downs... and thankfully calling a spade a spade.
   When he performed well he is acknowledged for it, when he was not at his best and did blunder we are told so without palliatives, and this makes him human and IF NOT A SEMI-GOD AT ALL.
   I am truly sorry for "deep at heart" southerners who sometimes swear by Jackson as he was God himself!... and never find any fault in him.
   He really was an outstanding C.S.A. general.
   And his loss probably influenced the war in the short term (I do not think he could have had a determinant influence in the long one...)
   In fact he was extremely lucky in some of his campaigns... but THAT is always a PLUS of successful generals.
   I do not read a lot of biographies (specially if they are penned/embellished by the man/woman themselves) but this one is very good and I can heartily recommend.
   
   ADB
   
   PS: THE GREAT ANGLO BOER WAR by the same author is also a must read.

3 comments about The Last Conquistador: Juan De Onate and the Settling of the Far Southwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies, Vol 2).

1. Many have made their views of Onate and opinions clear here around New Mexico, but few have ever made even a slight reference to the men around Onate ... the time Onate lived in, but alas, Marc Simmons has a captivating impartial review of the infamous Onate.



2. Marc Simmons does an excellent job of telling a story. I have endured novels that were much less engaging and well told. Simmons brings immediacy and life to events that occurred four hundred years ago. I wish he had written the history texts I was compelled to read in high school.



3. Marc Simmons can always be relied upon for giving acurate information in a compelling package. If you do not know the story of New Mexico's quasi feudal founding by Spanish Conqustidors in armor both the good and bad then you must buy this book quickly and correct your educational deficiency.

5 comments about Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire.

1. As a child I participated in and won the A.G. Gaston spelling bee on the state level two years in a row (1957-1958). It was a stepping stone for me and enabled me to go on and do more rewarding things as an adult. I remember staying in his motel in Birmingham with my sponsor and god mother, Mrs Tempie Horton. This is a piece of history that I share with my grand kids. My name is (maiden) Lois Jean Scott and I attended Calvary Jr. high school in Huntsville, Alabama. I am grateful for Mr Gaston and his wife, whom I met on several occasions, for giving me this opportunity.



2. Actually most of the information from this book was taken from Green Power ( written by the man himself) and the rest was stretched. Actually, I know the authors. Neither of them truly new him and as far being related, they were nieces only by marriage. I just think they are trying to make a quick buck on something that they know nothing about.



3. This book is AWESOME and a MUST Read! The authors definitely did their research not only about their grandfather, but also about the history/activities that took place during that era. I was so happy that my mentor, recommended this book to our book club. I am a black woman and I NEVER heard about Mr. Gaston. I didn't even know that we had any millionaires and influencers during this time. This book should be a supplement to African American literature, as well as business courses. The Black Titan should be right next to those books written about J. D. Rockerfeller, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Sam Walton, etc.



4. This book is not a civil rights manual and its not guide to getting rich. This book offer a glimpse into the life of a man that was successful in business when Black folk in business was virtually unheard of especially at the level that he operated. If you keep an open mind and read this book you will learn something about the civil rights movement and getting rich.



5. So much of our American history is not taught in our schools, so when we become adults, we must self-study especially contributions of Black Americans. This account of A. G. Gaston's life by his niece and grand-niece is well-paced and informative. Gaston took advantage of every opportunity made available to him and his suberb work ethic allowed him to flourish in many business enterprises. Many of us know a lot about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but how many of us know A.G. Gaston was the man who bailed MLK Jr. and others out of the Birmingham jail? This is a must read. I've already ordered copies for my parents and my local library. Enjoy!

5 comments about The Passions of Andrew Jackson.

1. This book will surely enlighten those that want to learn more about Andrew Jackson. It does however glaze over a few of the mans more notorious deeds. There was barely a page devoted to the forced relocation of the Cherrokee and other tribes of indians that lived East of the Missippi. Today this would have been a crime against humanity and it led to the Trail of Tears which is one of the more humiliating parts of American history. Nothing at all was mentioned of the fact that this was done with the Supreme Court saying that such an action was unacceptable. The subject of the closure of the National Banks could have done with some more discussion as well. The book did give the reader a bit of a look into the "What was he thinking?" question that most modern minds are led to ask when thinking of some of the actions of Gen. Jackson.
   It's shortcomings aside, I am glad to have read it as it is a good look into an all too often forgotten time of American history.



2. If you are looking for a biography that takes you inside the head of the man, explains what makes him tick and how he managed his personal life and career, in as few pages as possible, this is it. If you want a thousand pages of historical broken-glass-studded factoids raked over your eyeballs in excruciatingly slow motion, look elsewhere. Personally, I prefer the former style of bio. The 325 pages read as 225. When I had finished I felt like I really knew Jackson, his relationships, and what about him contributed to his achievements. By contrast, I reached the same point after a mere 700 pages of D'Este's Eisenhower bio - which spared me from having to read the last 165 pages!



3. I found this book to be a very interesting if unflattering take on Andrew Jackson. The title is revealing-this book is primarily intersted in what made Jackson tick. This isn't done with new age psychoanalysis but by looking behind the actions Jackson took. Thus there is considerable time spent on Jackson's duels, physical confrontations and his political battles. Because of this there may be an imbalance in the book towards the negative actions Jackson took-such as his duels, disregard for military or political authority and his actions towards even his allies among the native americans. However the book makes it clear that it was these very traits that made him the General and President that he was. For a more positive and comprehensive book on Jackson read Brands book. Beter yet read them both.
   
   
   
   



4. BOY, TALK ABOUT DECONTEXTUALIZED HISTORY!ANDREW JACKSON WAS A RACIST-AS OPPOSED TO WHO IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY ON PLANET EARTH!HE DEFENDED HIS PERSONAL HONOR-YOU MEAN LIKE HAMILTON AND BURR?HE SUBJECTED THE INDIANS TO BRUTAL EXPULSIONS-LIKE THE INDIANS DID TO US(ON OCCASION)AND TO EACH OTHER.HE ONLY BELIEVED IN DEMOCRACY FOR WHITE MEN(WELL,AT LEAST!).HE WAS FARTHER AHEAD ON THAT ISSUE THAN GEORGE WASHINGTON,JOHN ADAMS AND ALEXANDER HAMILTON(NOT TO MENTION KING GEORGE III)!THE THING ABOUT OLD HICKORY WAS THAT HE WAS IMPLACABLE IN DEFENSE OF HIS COUNTRY AND HIMSELF(GOD FORBID!)AND CLAWED HIS WAY FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SOCIAL ORDER TO THE TOP WITH NARY A BY YOUR LEAVE TO THE SOCIAL ELITE OF THE TIME(GOD BLESS AMERICA!).AND ISN'T THAT REALLY MR. BURSTEIN'S HANG-UP? THE COMMON FOLK MAKING THEIR OWN WAY WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF ELITE IVORY TOWER SOCIAL ARBITERS LIKE HIMSELF?!NOT THAT I HAVE AN OPINION.



5. Historical masculinity vs. Contemporary Masculinity
   Is it the triumph of intellectual rationality over ruffian physicality, or a Jacksonian warmongering spirit of vendetta?
   
   By Brian D'Ambrosio
   
   Spring is rife with emotionally ebullience. It's the ideal season to explore the depths and probe the unobstructed boundaries of intrinsic behaviors, all while thawing out from the long, frostily cold vagaries of winter's character consuming frigidity. Is there a better time of the year for calmness, prudence, self-analysis, and perhaps even self-deprecation? Being a history buff I tend to stock up on political biographies during the winter months, and through Andrew Jackson (1767-1845: 7th President of the U.S. 1829-1837), I've once again come face to face with the elemental problem of resolving - or at least broaching - the somewhat amorphous (and perhaps therefore indefinable) subject of true masculinity.
   
   The manliest president of all-time has got to be Andrew Jackson: he had lured away another man's wife and took her as his own; he relished killing and unapologetically engaged in dueling; he invaded Florida without constitutional consent; patriotic to a fault, he had ordered the deaths of insubordinate American militiamen during the War of 1812. Fiery, rebellious, fiercely patriarchal, he, as one contemporary catalogued, "did not like or dislike people; he loved them or hated them." Herein references the problem: Is Andrew Jackson a correct, defensible masculine model? If so, this presupposes the inherently violent, dastardly, nature of masculinity.
   
   Jackson was a man of unwavering principles, "an irascible man easily angered, a man who held back little." Jacksonian principle, according to Andrew Burstein, author of The Passions of Andrew Jackson, was as simple as it was ironclad: to be the object of slander was worse than death, for, in his eyes, mortality preserved "good character," and a "good heritage" descended to one's children; calumny left one alive, but "a living monument to disgrace," and only transferred "infamy" to one's surviving family members. Indeed, any comment that challenged his thinking, judgment, or sensibilities, he deemed to be an affront to his masculinity. A duel was the honorable and "gentlemanly" way to settle such disputes, the ultimate recourse to mend wounded pride.
   
   Was masculinity the duel itself, or was it the courageousness of a participant to show up and fight until the bitter end? Is pure masculinity brisk, mature judgment, sophistication of taste, keenness of thought, and lucidity of reasoning - intellectual discernment rather than ruffian physicality? Or is manliness the use of force to repel or displace those considered suspicious, ill-fated enemies - Spanish, British, and Indian? Is it the brutish implementation of this force? Is it a fistfight, a duel, or the knowledge of exotic wines? Eloquent pen? Or mighty sword? In Jacksonian America, "enemies were a necessary stimulus."
   
   Then perhaps residual Jacksonian masculinity, when applied to modern variables, is the end result, the bottom line stats, the final score of a football game. We won. They lost. Or vice versa. Perhaps modern masculinity is the emotion wrought from the engagement of such a contest, the way it felt to fumble or flub away a seemingly insurmountable lead.
   
   In these times, for a man to be a rightful, sincere man, he needs to delicately and sensibly commingle the very best characteristics of enduring masculinity with the emerging senses of newfound masculinity. The residually masculine part of my character wishes that I could have been a goon in the National Hockey League, dropping the gloves and engaging in fistic discord against opponents of equal prowess - night after night, shift after shift. It's the part of me that loves the beautiful brutality of boxing, doesn't like to be outpaced on hiking trails, cares about the way I look, and casts aspersions on the unfriendly, or, at times, unfamiliar.
   
   This appealing, cultivating, present day masculinity wonders how it feels to be one of those boxers' wives, ruminates about the physical, emotional and natural interconnectedness derived through hiking, and scarcely cusses. It's the part that flosses teeth and steams vegetables. This masculinity appears more concerned with emotional appeals to reason than spite-filled vitriol, and realizes that self-improvement cannot be static.
   
   Toward the end of his life, Jackson, remained as blunt, tempestuous, explicit, and opinionated as he had been when only a young man, failing to outgrow the advocacy of violent masculinity to decide personal quarrels. As Burstein puts it, even at advanced age, "He was not given to reflection, but he maintained sturdy principles of conduct, that, in his mind, never steered him wrong."
   
   Perhaps this is the greatest failure of the defiant nature of Jacksonian language and its rigidly principled masculinity: it failed to see past exaggerated pride and bloated ego, and remained stuck in the frontier impulses and obligations typical of its day. It was incapable of seeing problems. It did not allow for the free exchange of ideas. It did not learn from reading, nor did it aim to improve its self-worth through the acquisition of new knowledge.
   
   Modern masculinity should make a conscience decision to at least attempt to conduct itself in a manner most antithetical to such misbegotten notions of valor and pride. It should draw strength and justification from a specific American tradition that stresses economic mobility, political action, and industrious work habits as the foundation of individual dignity and manliness of character.
   
   Indeed, contemporary masculinity should continue to learn from - as well as struggle to avoid through recognition - the pitfalls of the antiquated and unstable ingredients of Jacksonian moral fury.

5 comments about Rain of Gold.

1. "Rain of Gold" was an absolutely brilliant novel! Once you start reading, you will stay up many nights to finish this book. The way Villasenor depicts every-day life, from the religious to the illegal aspects, is just amazing. Before I picked up this book, I did not know what I would be getting into. At first I thought that the idea of reading about a family that just immigrated from a war-torn Mexico into the United States would be dull. The book depicts what a movie or television could never depict; it expresses every thought and feeling of the main character, and the drama fails to disappoint. You will be filled with emotions along every chapter. READ THIS BOOK!



2. This book was fascinating to me. It is a great depiction of historical events that I had not really known about regarding the Mexican people. It is very sad to see what an idyllic, beautiful and simple life these people had only to have it shattered by the revolution. Their beautiful and simple existence became a fight for life and a future of being treated like dirt by soldiers in their own country and by the U.S. when they tried to go someplace else. The author did a great job with imagery and emotion. I couldn't put this book down.



3. I am a 57 year old gringo living in Southern Arizona and received this book from a friend of mine who is related to the author. I did not expect much and the beginning had me wondering if I would make it through all 500+ pages of small print. It did not take very long for me to realize that this book was well above ordinary. Prior to reading this book, I personally had gotten the most enjoyment from " East of Eden " and " The Agony and The Ecstacy " and place Mr. Villasenor's novel along side both. I cried and laughed like hell and as a lifelong Catholic, was deeply moved by the incredible faith of both of his grandmothers. Some of the other reviewers were put off by his technique, I was not. I very much agree with those who found great enjoyment from this book, as I had a difficult time putting it down and experienced a real sadness as I read the final words, I did not want it to end. Mr. Victor Villasenor is one heck of a storyteller and I feel blessed to have entered into his family through his written words.
   
   John Towle - Vail, Az.



4. I am Mexican American, and this book was reccommended to me by an Irish friend. I felt like I was reading my own history about my own family. Yes, there are scenes of violence and illegal acts, but that is not what makes any of us proud to be Mexican American. The faith in God and in family is what makes us proud of our heritage, and this book shares that while using the sour times in life to show just how sweet the sweet can be. I cried, laughed, and felt every emotion in between. I didn't want to stop reading, and I wish the book kept going. I am now inspired to find the stories of my family, and I am prouder than ever to be of Mexican heritage. I understand my family better, and I love my grandparents even more for what they went through. Thank you, Mr. Villasenor, for sharing this story with us.



5. Amazing story, amazing writer. Fall in love with the characters and the magic in this book. If you read Roots and loved it, you will surely love this book as well. Trials and tribulations of the mexican american family, and a great love story make this a great read.

3 comments about I Rode With Jeb Stuart: The Life And Campaigns Of Major General J. E. B. Stuart.

1. More than McClellan's memoir, this is an early Stuart biography, and later biographies such as Davies' and Thomas' rely heavily upon it. McClellan became Stuart's AG in May '63, but his account starts with Stuart's youth.

   This is a vital account in showing exactly what Stuart's cavalry did during the war: scouting, raiding, screening movements, fighting rearguard actions, gathering information, etc. One thing I didn't know was that Stuart's horse artillery, often under the command of the general himself and sometimes with regular batteries added, would take up a flank position during infantry battles and fire into the Federal ranks. The perpetual, obviously exhausting, activity of the cavalry also becomes obvious.

   McClellan was present for the Gettysburg campaign, and his account is invaluable for this somewhat controversial issue. His writing becomes more personal at this point, and he recounts several anecdotes of interest. He continues his detailed recounting of ANV cavalry activity until Stuart's death; McClellan was present at the deathbed and ends his book there. This should be required reading for anyone interested in the cavalry.




2. It is often more interesting to read what those who have been there have to say than what we think they said. Thus is the case with this book. It may not have every fact correct, but it is what the author McClellen remembered. As with "Co. Aych" and "All For the Union," their perception of the smaller picture of the War than the overall history that is fascinating.



3. I feel this is a great book for anyone intrested in learning more about this great person. He was not just a General but a caring, warm and compassionate person.