Customer Reviews

Grover Cleveland

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Rexford Tugwell's biography of Grover Cleveland is nearly perfect - it presents scores of fascinating trivia about Cleveland's life while synthesizing them into the narrative in such a way that they add to the point of the book, rather than take attention away from it (indeed, one reviewer here didn't even seem to notice that the book possessed such information); it covers all of the major events in Cleveland's life and presidency, and does so in such detail that one walks away not merely well-informed, but with that glorious sense of immersion which only comes from truly great works of history and biography; and it is written in a prose style that is literate without being pretentious, and easily-accessible without stooping to the level of pedestrianism. The fundamental problem, however, is that Tugwell does not merely tell a story; he has a thesis, one that invades virtually every word he writes. He views Grover Cleveland as being an honorable, hard-working man who tried his best but was woefully unprepared for the challenges he faced as President. His argument is intelligently presented and certainly worth consideration; the problem is that he doesn't pay the opposing point-of-view (held by individuals such as myself) the common courtesy of acknowledgment. The way he writes this book, you would assume that his disapproval of most of Cleveland's actions were agreed upon by virtually all historians; the fact is that Grover Cleveland's legacy is a subject of great dispute, and Tugwell owes it to his readers to balance his criticisms with the arguments of those who would praise Cleveland's actions on matters of great importance. Even on subjects where I agree with Tugwell's assertions (such as Cleveland's handling of the Pullman Strike), I feel that his bias interferes with the overall value of his book. That said, this is a worthwhile read. It is a shame that the same passion which doubtlessly contributed to the quality of Tugwell's book was the same passion that prevented it from being a truly great biography.

Man, they don't write them like this anymore! Nowadays, historians want to prevaricate you to death with all the fine points they can dredge up. Here's an author who sticks to his single point throughout, that President Cleveland's innate honesty was not enough to serve America and that he should have tried to alter his stances at times to suit America's needs. As we say nowadays, Cleveland needed a paradigm shift big time. Tugwell's style is both lively and direct, sometimes a little like a good high school sourcebook in how it anxiously seeks to explain even the most basic points in completely understandable terms. If you're looking for a good first book to read on Cleveland, this is it. There is a curious resonance with the present too: Sometimes the Cleveland story is a bit like the Clinton story; at other times it's a bit like the George W. Bush story. See for yourself.