President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier
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 Cover of the hardback first edition | |
| Author | C.W. Goodyear |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | James A. Garfield |
| Genre | Biography |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | July 4, 2023 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover), e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 624 pp. |
| ISBN | 978-1982146917 |
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier is a 2023 biography of U.S. President James A. Garfield by C.W. Goodyear. It was described by presidential historian Richard Norton Smith as "the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost 50 years, and the most readable ever."[1]
President Garfield was Goodyear's first book. A ghostwriter in Washington, D.C., Goodyear started researching the book around 2018.[2] He has said he was looking for historical periods that could provide insights into the contemporary United States and focused on Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. “The more I looked, the more deeper and more compelling I found the life [of Garfield]," Goodyear has said. "And he was not necessarily forgotten, but he was neglected."[3] Goodyear's research, which included time in the Library of Congress, the Hiram College archives and other archives in Ohio, was disrupted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.[2]
Contents
President Garfield covers Garfield's in five sections. Part I covers Garfield's family of origin and their settlement in the Western Reserve, as well as his birth, upbringing, education, marriage, academic career and early political career. Part II covers Garfield's Civil War military service. Part III covers Garfield's election to the U.S. House of Representatives, culminating in his tenure as Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives. The final and fourth part covers the election of 1880, Garfield's brief presidency, his assassination and his legacy.
Each chapter opens with a different quote from Shakespeare that Garfield had written in his diary.[4]
