Garfield: A Biography [Hardcover]

Allan Peskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1978

Winner of the Ohio Academy of History Award, the Ohioana Book Award in History, and a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year.

"Garfield's military career, the congressional years, the Presidency, receive thorough attention and evaluation, and one of the delights of this massive biography is that Peskin writes so well...This is a brilliant and skillful portrait of a man of many parts, of the political and social landscape of his time."--Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 720 pages
• Publisher: Kent State Univ Pr (April 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873382102
• ISBN-13: 978-0873382106
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Academic biography at its best!, November 25, 2007

By 

G. Zilly - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Garfield: A Biography (Hardcover)

I am currently reading a biography of every President in order. For James Garfield the choice is easy (the only competition being the short bio from the American Presidents series) and thankfully Mr. Peskin has left almost no room for another book to take its place as the definitive Garfield biography.

In short, this is among the best "academic" Presidential biographies that I have read. Peskin has clearly done an exhaustive amount of research as well as having a thorough command of the time period in American history. The book is extremely well organized and Peskin's writing style is fluid and engaging. The book is adept at presenting in depth material in a way that is easy to understand and ideas and story threads follow logically through the book. It is possible that some may find the detail level a bit much but it is certainly appropriate for this type of biography and in my opinion Peskin has struck just the right balance of detail and related background information without losing focus on the main subject and important themes. I highly recommend this biography, it will clearly be the definitive Garfield biography for quite some time to come.

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Historic Biography about a Little Known President, December 7, 1999

By 

Alexander Tsesis (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Garfield: A Biography (Hardcover)

This was an interesting biography about an accomplished General, Congressman and President. Peskin has done a great job of discussing both the military and civilian accomplishments of this great man. The book is usually entertaining and informative; however, at times it becomes a bit dry. Moreover, I wish Peskin would have spent more pages on the academical accomplishments of this one time professor. An interesting read for persons interested in post-reconstructionist United States.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic of American History, June 12, 2006

By 

Robert S. Last (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garfield: A Biography (Hardcover)

I had the pleasure of being a graduate student of Dr. Peskin's in the late 1980's and one of the things he taught us was how to write. Strangely, he never used Garfield as an example of superb historical writing or scholarship, but it is both. It is generally considered the finest biography of Garfield's life in print, and it is.
I picked it up on a lark one weekend and spent the entire weekend reading it. I couldn't put it down!! It is that good and the scholarship is great! A must-read for history buffs!