"Rutherford B. Hayes was an important president who has long
deserved a full modern treatment of his career. Ari Hoogenboom's
well-researched, engrossing, and multi-faceted account of Hayes's
life as a soldier and politician is a significant contribution to
the historical literature on the American presidency. It is also a
first-rate example of political biography at its best."--Lewis L.
Gould, author of The Presidency of William McKinley and The
Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt"From antislavery lawyer to Union
general and Republican politician, Hayes's career was intertwined
with the major issues of slavery, war, and reunion. As president he
struggled with the issues of Reconstruction and the emerging
industrial order, always seeking to do the right thing; as an
ex-president, he endeavored to preserve the past and prepare for
the future. In this comprehensive biography, Hoogenboom rescues
Hayes from undeserved obscurity and tells us much not only about
the man but also about the times in which he lived. Hoogenboom's
skilled rendering of the life of the nineteenth president promises
to be definitive, restoring Hayes to his rightful place in American
history as a representative of his era."--Brooks Simpson, author of
Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and
Reconstruction, 1861-1868"Compels fresh respect for both the man
and his times."--Allan Peskin, author of Garfield"An exceptional
study: revisionist, comprehensive, and, to a surprising extent,
relevant. A superb job."--Les Fishel, former director of the Hayes
Library
"We get to know the public man, best of the Gilded Age Republican
presidents and among the most service-minded of ex-presidents. And
it is a good visit."--Reviews in American History"This thorough,
insightful, and fair-minded book earns for Hayes the enhanced
reputation that is his due."--Civil War History"Hayes, the man and
the president, receives a sympathetic but balanced portrait in this
superb addition to the growing literature reevaluating political
leaders of the Gilded Age."--Journal of American History"Gracefully
written, lucidly organized deeply researched, and insightfully
perceptive, the book is a model biography of an American
President."--Illinois Historical Journal"Based on exhaustive
research in the Hayes Presidential Center and numerous collateral
collections. . . the definitive treatment of the subject."--Journal
of Southern History"Hoogenboom's writing is pleasurably detailed
without overwhelming the reader. The detailed personal portrait of
Hayes, in some ways more interesting than his public
accomplishments, is made possibly by the author's careful use of
Haye's voluminous diaries and correspondence."--Ohioana
Quarterly"All readers will appreciate Hoogenboom's larger view of
the man and his time."--Library Journal"A definitive
study."--Choice
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