May 1, 2023
Historian Goodyear reviews aspects of the life of James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), who was born in a log-cabin in Ohio and became a scholar, an ordained Disciples of Christ minister, a college president, a Civil War general, a congressman, a lawyer, and the United States' 20th president (the second one to be assassinated). The author includes, but does not lengthily discuss, some unflattering facts. For example, there's mention of how Garfield tricked the Indigenous Salish tribe out of their land in the Pacific Northwest on behalf of the federal government, and there are details about an extramarital affair. A great deal of the narrative focuses on Garfield's wartime years, including his friendship with the Catholic convert Gen. William Starke Rosecrans, who widened Garfield's religious outlook. As president, Garfield intended to reform civil service, which wouldn't happen until the administration of his successor, Chester A. Arthur. Perhaps too many pages are devoted to Garfield's end-of-life medical mistreatment; on this, Candice Millard's Destiny of the Republic is the more focused presentation. VERDICT 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.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 22, 2023
Historian Goodyear debuts with a sturdy biography of President James Garfield. Born in 1831 in Ohio (“the last American president to begin life in a log cabin,” Goodyear notes), Garfield turned a hard-won education into a teaching career. He soon became head of the Hiram Eclectic Institute and was elected to the state senate as pre–Civil War tensions intensified. When war broke out, Garfield led a regiment made up of his students, parlaying military success into a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he would serve for more than a decade. Thanks to his ability to bring together rival Republican factions, Garfield secured the party’s presidential nomination in 1880. Drawing connections between the circumstances of Garfield’s rise and the modern day, Goodyear notes that Garfield’s predecessor, Rutherford B. Hayes, who lost the popular vote and became president in a backroom deal, was “widely considered illegitimate.” Garfield was in his first year of office when he was shot by “a frustrated office-seeker” from his own party; he would slowly die of infection over months. Goodyear provides a thorough complement to previous biographies, which tended to focus more on the legacy of Garfield’s murder than on his life. This fresh appraisal sheds new light on the history of American political polarity.
Starred review from April 15, 2023
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.
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