Cuộc Khủng Hoảng Giá Dầu Hiện Nay: Xu Hướng, Nguyên Nhân Tác Động Và Giải Pháp tải về miễn phí cuốn sách

Jackson Ryu jacksonru — A fun quick read. Not really a moral to the story but very entertaining

Adam Freeborn afreeborn — I got sucked in after initially resisting this series because it's supposed to be for "young adults." I ended up finishing it in less than a day.

Werner Cheng 439804218d8ec — This review comes after a significant pause in the Presidents Project. In the last six months, I relocated from Washington DC to the midwest and embarked on a significant career change (for arguably the better, but slightly traumatic nonetheless). In the meantime, I read three biographies - this one, Arthur, and Cleveland (spoilers!), but couldn't get my act together and write up my reviews. For leaving my readers without their quarterly dose of Presidential history, I apologize. Since I likely have no readers past the first paragraph, let's summarize James Garfield quickly: He Dies. Dark Horse (...) is a good biography written by a lawyer practicing at the firm I worked at as a legislative assistant years ago. For that sentimental reason (and to redeem my 23 year old self, who sweetly, but ignorantly tried to talk presidential history with Mr. Ackerman while he was writing this book) I chose this biogaphy. Garfield was our 20th president, and indeed a dark horse for the job. Born poor in Ohio, the youngest of five children, Garfield put himself through Hiram College working odd jobs. Professionally he tried his hand at teaching, ministry, and finally settled on the law. At the same time he was elected to the Ohio State Senate on a platform of militant abolition. Garfield served in the Civil War, commanding troops and as Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. He was frustrated by Rosecrans' battle stage fright, and agreed to let his friends campaign on his behalf for a seat in the 1862 Congressional elections. He won, and proceeded to serve nine terms in the House. However, like the career of every other long-serving, admirable politician, no one really wants to hear about it. So, fast forward: The election of 1880 occurred at the height of organized political bossism. The Republican convention was deadlocked in a three-way tie between General Sherman (Garfield's pick), former President Grant, and Speaker of the House James Blaine. After days of debate, Garfield's name was put forth in response to an impassioned speech Garfield gave against political puppeteer Sen. Roscoe Conkling. To sway Conkling's support to a Garfield nomination, Conkling's good friend Chester Arthur was added to the ticket as Vice President. Garfield won the election handily; Democrats were still being blamed for starting the Civil War. Sen. Conkling all but moved in to the White House reception rooms, assuming he'd earned the right to run the show. Garfield rejected Conkling's interference, and a fun soap opera ensued in which Conkling resigned his Senate seat in a carefully orchestrated protest, only to then be abandoned by his Senate friends in the last act of his rebellion. Conkling aside, though an easy illustration, Garfield wanted to build a clean administration based on a plan for a larger-reaching civil service reform. At the same time, Garfield was besieged by office seekers, one of them being the social outcast Charles Guiteau who was denied his request to be Ambassador to Vienna. What began then was a stalking. While Garfield built a qualified cabinet and pursued a policy of civil rights reform and elimination of the spoils system, Guiteau sat in Lafayette Park armed with a pistol. As spring turned to summer of that first year, Garfield also managed to appoint a Supreme Court justice, a few judges, and several quality ambassadors. Guiteau spent his time learning the President's routines and following him around Washington, DC. On July 2nd, four months into Garfield's administration, Guiteau shot the President twice while awaiting a train in the 6th Street Station. Because Guiteau shouted a hurrah to Vice President Chester Arthur after the shooting (Arthur having been openly unsupportive of the President, and loyal only to Sen. Conkling), it was initially thought the VP was behind the assassination attempt. Letters found on Guiteau's person after the crime (he was immediately apprehended and imprisoned) indicated he was upset at being denied the ambassadorship, thereby branding him forever as the "Disgruntled Office-Seeker." Garfield survived the shooting and was taken back to the White House to be stabilized. One bullet remained lodged in his abdomen and was lost to the contemporary doctors' probings. What follows in the biography is an interesting (and sad!) account of 1880's medicine. Garfield lingered for so long, and clearly suffered more from infection than any other complaint, that it's almost certain he would have survived in modern days. But then, when does fate ever spare us the inconvenience of poor timing? In September, the ailing President was taken to the Jersey shore in hopes the sea air would clear the raging infection that was the result of many bare hands looking for the elusive bullet (which was found, post mortem, to be behind the pancreas). On the night of September 19th, Garfield finally died of massive heart failure and sepsis. Only William Henry Harrison (#9) served a shorter term. This particular biography (and this review, I'm sorry!) is too long relative to the Administration it documents, but Mr. Ackerman writes an entertaining and informative account of what could be considered dry by other authors: career Congressman, compromise candidate, shot in a train station by a crazy, homeless guy. It's not a great story, but Mr. Ackerman does right by it if you're ever curious about the American presidency in 1880... which if you're still reading this review, you might be :-)