{"id":27794,"date":"2012-05-07T09:09:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T15:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=27794"},"modified":"2012-05-07T09:09:51","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T15:09:51","slug":"book-review-the-president-and-the-assassin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/07\/book-review-the-president-and-the-assassin.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: “The President and the Assassin”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century<\/a><\/em> by Scott Miller<\/a><\/p>\n

My rating: 5 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n

American History, as taught in the schools, has some disturbingly large gaps. For example, we usually go straight from the Civil War and Taming of the West to WW I and the Great Depression, with perhaps a small mention of the Spanish-American War in passing (mostly for the sake of Teddy Roosevelt and San Juan Hill).<\/p>\n

But there’s a huge sea change in American history that takes place in this period — the transition from the Gilded Age of unbridled industrial expansion and capitalism to the Progressive Era with the rise of labor unions and employment law, as well as a shift from the US as the “sea to shining sea” Lower 48 to a international force and nascent empire with that Spanish-American war.<\/p>\n

That’s the period this book covers, with its centerpiece the assassination of William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz (“Chalgosh”). The book starts with the actual assassination, then goes back to trace both men’s lives, as reflections of the forces shaping the US in the period: the rise of labor movements (including socialists and anarchists) and the expansion of the US onto the world stage with a foreign policy that is at times equal parts naivete, bluster, comic opera, good will, and commerce-driven betrayal of principle.<\/p>\n

The Haymarket Massacre, Pinkertons, the Homestead strike, the Industrial Revolution with its booms and busts, the plight of Cuba, the Boxer Rebellion, the Open Door policy, the conquest of the Philippines and Hawaii, figures like William Jennings Bryan, Emma Goldman, Andrew Carnegie, Teddy Roosevelt, Johann Most, and McKinley and Czolgosz themselves … the parallels at times to current American affairs in terms of military intervention (for humanitarian and commercial reasons) and the conflict between workers and business are sometimes remarkable, and often disturbing. By forgetting the quasi-imperialist past of the US, we too easily find ourselves getting into similar messes today; by ignoring the past of labor relations and the violence (on all sides) that stemmed from income inequality and cruel living conditions amidst increasing wealth, we set the stage for a return to such conditions again.<\/p>\n

Miller provides copious detail without getting bogged down, and manages to provide sympathetic viewpoints of all the players without giving anyone an unstained white hat. In the afterward, he notes the short-mid-range results of the events he describes — progressive advances within the US alongside a rejection of anarchism, and a short-lived US empire the stretched on for another handful of decades but which laid the ground for aspects of both WWII and Communist revolution in Cuba.<\/p>\n

Arthur Morley’s narration of the book is clear and gripping. He doesn’t try to imitate voices, but he imbues both text and quotes with an appropriate level of personality and interest.<\/p>\n

As an overview of neglected US history in the pivotal years of the 1890s and 1900s, this is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it.
\nView all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller My rating: 5 of 5 stars American History, as taught in the schools, has some disturbingly large gaps. For example, we usually go straight from the Civil War and Taming of the West to WW I … Continue reading “Book Review: “The President and the Assassin””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,36,77,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-media-books","category-economy","category-geopolitical-brouhaha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3199,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/25\/ever_notice_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":27794,"position":0},"title":"Ever notice the black helicopters are the same color as their cassocks?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Jul-02 6:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I love conspiracy theories. Really I do. Which is why this site, dedicated to the proposition that the Jesuits are behind everything. No, really. The Civil War did not end...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134713,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/15\/whos-upset-superman-stopped-killing-undocumented-workers.html","url_meta":{"origin":27794,"position":1},"title":"So who’s upset because Superman stopped a killing of undocumented workers?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Sep-17 4:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I read the issue. And I actually saw the angry tweets (and bilious Fox News opinion piece) lambasting DC for having Superman stop a mass shooting. Which sounds insane, but the target was a group of (accused) undocumented workers, and the shooter was a white guy, with a American flag\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Superman-saving-immigrants.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32013,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/01\/my-favorite-books-of-2012.html","url_meta":{"origin":27794,"position":2},"title":"My Favorite Books of 2012","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Jan-13 11:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Make that, to be clear, favorite books read\u00a0in 2012 (via Goodreads). Five Star Books (amazing, faboo): Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman Hidden Things,\u00a0by Doyce Testerman Redshirts, by John Scalzi The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/stacks-of-black-and-white-books1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":154953,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2021\/08\/08\/b5-rewatch-5x01-no-compromises.html","url_meta":{"origin":27794,"position":3},"title":"B5 Rewatch: 5×01 “No Compromises”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 8-Aug-21 12:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"And 30 months later, I'm back to the rewatch, kicking off with Season 5.","rel":"","context":"In "Babylon 5"","block_context":{"text":"Babylon 5","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/media-tv-babylon-5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/no-compromises-011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/no-compromises-011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/no-compromises-011.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/no-compromises-011.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7732,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/25\/just_what_every.html","url_meta":{"origin":27794,"position":4},"title":"Just what every little girl needs!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Aug-05 3:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Elektra Barbie! 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