Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great examination of Bryan's early political career, November 10, 2004
Paolo Coletta's biography, the first of three volumes, covers the life of the agrarian champion and three-time presidential candidate from his early years to his final run for the White House in 1908. Growing up in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska at the age of 22 soon after earning his law degree. Though successful as an attorney in the growing town of Lincoln his true passion was politics, and he won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1890. There he became a strong supporter of agrarian issues and a fervent advocate of tariff reform, the establishment of an income tax, and - most importantly - the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Increasingly at odds with the Cleveland administration, he turned down reelection in 1894 in favor of bids for governor and senator, both of which he lost.
By 1895, Bryan was active among silver circles, using his considerable skills as an orator to advocate silver coinage. Such efforts enhanced his national image and made him a contender for the 1896 Democratic presidential nomination. With the support of many Midwestern and Southern states - where Bryan spoke extensively during his speaking tours - he was a legitimate candidate for the nomination even before he gave his famous "cross of gold" speech that won the national party convention to his cause. His selection at the age of 36 made him the youngest nominee of any major political party in the nation's history.
After facing defeat in spite of a strenuous campaign, Bryan continued his political activism. He maintained his support for silver and advocated Cuban independence when the subject arose, even enlisting to serve when America went to war against Spain in 1898. Though defeated again in the election of 1900, Bryan continued his political activism in a series of speaking tours (which were extremely profitable) and in the pages of "The Commoner," a weekly journal of agrarian political issues and Jeffersonian principles. Coletta sees Bryan in this period as a prophet of progressivism, supporting the rise of a new political mood that many of his own campaigns had paved the way for. The excesses of capitalism prompted Bryan's third run for the presidency, a campaign that ended in a frustrating and perplexing defeat by William Howard Taft.
In recounting Bryan's life, Coletta uses both primary and secondary sources in a thorough and critical manner, providing a sympathetic treatment while keeping his limitations in mind. Though the Nebraska politician occasionally comes across more as a symbol than an individual and Coletta's effort to make the case for Bryan as a supporter of both agrarian causes and progressive reforms doesn't always ring true, there is no better work on the early life of this pivotal political figure.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great political history, July 10, 2005
This is the first volume of the trilogy, and covers Bryan's life to late 1908. The account of the Cross of Gold speech on July 9, 1896, is as riveting account of that most momentous speech in American political history as I have ever read. I was also surprised by how interesting the account of the 1904 Democratic Convention was--I had never heretofore felt the 1904 polical events of much interest. Coletta writes balanced history and does not hesitate to point out Bryan's faults, showing he was not a great thinker, was very stubborn and sure of his rightness, having little interest in history or literature. But the role he played was crucial in making the modern Democratic Party. If you like political history you will enjoy this volume.
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