Rating: 
Summary: Grover Cleveland light
Review: Being from Buffalo and following a good experience with another Cleveland-centered work ("City of Light"), I picked up this biography at the local library.Jeffers offers a light, breezy read. He sticks to highlights and readily acknowledges and quotes the several more historic, academic and detailed Cleveland biographies. He makes some facile comparisons to Bill Clinton, some of which work and others that are a bit of stretch. Unlike Clinton, Cleveland was honest and not terribly schooled or bright. Both men worked and played long hours. Like Clinton, Cleveland was a large man, with a huge appetite for food (Cleveland liked sauerkraut and sausage, a fair predecessor to Clinton's Big Mac attacks) and -- and here it gets murky -- women. Cleveland, nearing fifty, first married his recently college graduated ward. But the story of his child out-of-wedlock many years earlier almost did him in. Unlike Clinton, and perhaps becuase he was a bachelor, he did not deny fatherhood, even though it was not clear that he was the father. Cleveland's political ascent was remarkable: in five years he was elected mayor of Buffalo, governor of New York, and then president of the United States, only to lose his second run for the presidency and to come back and win on his third try. His concern over public office as a public trust, over the gold standard and tariffs, offer some insights into today's currency and free trade arguments. An interesting and not terribly complex man, Cleveland was a much better president than Clinton, whose greatest legacy was to turn over the White House and Congress to the Republicans and to turn the public spotlight on private sexual matters.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not outstanding
Review: Grover Cleveland has always been one of our more obscure presidents, not quite as unknown as Fillmore, Buchanan or Pierce, but not as well-written about as Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln; he is certainly the most obscure of presidents to serve two full terms. In fact, the most well-known fact about Cleveland is that he is the only president to serve non-consecutive terms; the more trivia-minded may also know that the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after his daughter. This biography shows Cleveland as a man of great integrity who was motivated more by principle than by partisanship. Cleveland comes off as a generally likeable person but not a very imaginative or visionary president. This could explain his relatively minor place in American history. Jeffers has written a generally admiring biography but does not neglect Cleveland's flaws. At times, his writing comes off a little too casual, such as when he refers to Cleveland constantly as "Grover," which seems out of place in a serious biography. Nonetheless, there are few enough biographies of Cleveland available, and this one is good enough to introduce a student of American history to this little-known president.
Rating: 
Summary: Simplistic, Superficial Biography of a Good President
Review: Grover Cleveland is portrayed in this book as an unbendingly honest and upright individual while many of the most significant "compromises" which he made during his two non-consecutive terms in the Presidency as well as his overall inefficiency and inflexibility are overlooked. Jeffers glides by the wholesale firing of tens of thousands of Republican office holders and replacement of them with "good Democrats" in a Spoils System run wild during 1885 and 1893, and also Cleveland's undiplomatic handling of the gold/silver issue which divided his own party and secured Republican control of the Presidency for 16 years following his terms. Jeffers swallows the self-promotional image of "unshakable integrity" put forth by the Cleveland Administration to unsophisticated voters of the day, but neglects to give sufficient attention to Cleveland as an effective, deal-cutting politician who manage to get his party's presidential nomination three times in succession. Even more ludicrous is the silly attempt by Jeffers to sanctify Cleveland at the expense of Bill Clinton without giving the slightest attention to the vast differences in the respective eras and the overall results of their two term administrations. --- At best, this is a pleasant "coffee table" book which draws almost exclusively from secondary, published sources and is not recommended for serious research and study. Cleveland was a good and important president. He deserves attention such as that provided in Richard E. Welch's excellent piece of scholarship entitled "The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland" (1988, University Press of Kansas).
Rating:
Summary: Could use some beefing up
Review: H. Paul Jeffers' biography of Grover Cleveland is really a great read. If you're interested in American history, you'll enjoy this book about a fascinating and remarkable figure in U.S. politics who is largely ignored by modern writers. If your knowledge of the American "Gilded Age" is limited to your high school or college classes, you'll do yourself a favor by reading this book. Jeffers does a good job in bringing the era and personalities to life, but his writing of Cleveland's years as president often seems to be merely listing his official schedule of activities. Don't let this criticism dissuade you, however; my test for any book while reading it is "when can I get time to read more?" This book definitely passes the test.
Rating: 
Summary: An Brief Overview
Review: H. Paul Jeffers's biography of Grover Cleveland is readable, but I found myself thinking of the famous Walter Mondale phrase, "Where's the Beef?" Checking in at a brief 350 pages, made all the shorter by the interspersion of photographs throughout the text, this book is a good bare bones account of Cleveland's life in which the reader never really gets to know the man. Cleveland is a vastly underrated President, mostly because didn't serve at a time of great national crisis. So the recent interest in him (no less than two biographies published in 2000) is a good thing. Jeffers's book did much to enlighten me, but left me wanting more. I also found a couple of glaring factual errors. Overall, Jeffers's book is a good introduction to its subject, and that's probably all most casual readers will want to know.
Rating: 
Summary: At last, a book about an obscure American President.....
Review: Imagine my surprise when I discovered this long-awaited biography of our 22nd and 24th president! As a release from the hundreds of redundant titles about Lincoln or Washington that are produced each year, this book provided me an opportunity to visit with a man too many ignore or misunderstand. The author provides a clean, concise account of his life (usually hitting only the high points rather than indulging in endless detail), and provides a fair, balanced description of his presidency. Still, it was most fascinating to read about Cleveland's rapid ascent from obscurity to the White House. Here was a man, who within three years (1881-1884), went from mayor of Buffalo to become a successful presidential candidate against powerful Republican James G. Blaine. As a politician, whether on the local or national level, Cleveland took controversial stands, challenged established members of his party, vetoed popular bills (risking always an override), and revealed private, potentially harmful information in the name of truth an openness. The author by no means paints a picture of perfection (his decisions as president are up for historical debate), but whatever position he took, Cleveland never betrayed his sense of duty and loyalty to the social good. That sense might have been wrong on several occasions (his handling of the 1894 Pullman strike, for example, which pushed the envelope of federal intervention in state matters), but he never compromised out of fear or a desire to cater to party officials. While there are many accounts of Cleveland's happy marriage to Frances (almost thirty years his junior) and their children (one of whom was, in a first, born in the White House), the book is an important contribution primarily because of its reassessment of his political life. Additionally, the author gives us a vivid representation of the late 19th century itself (as all presidential biographies must); a time rife with labor wars, economic crises (the Panic of 1893 was one of the nation's worst depressions), racial conflict, immigration debates (Cleveland signed the Chinese Exclusion Act yet vetoed a bill forbidding illiterate immigrants), imperialism abroad, and impending war with Spain. While the author resorts to a few cheap shots against President Clinton in the end (I suppose no contemporary book about politics would be complete without it), the book maintains a satisfactory level of detachment throughout. While books such as these will never light up the bestseller lists, I am thankful that they are written. Mr. Jeffers should be applauded for tackling a forgotten man while always keeping it accessible, appealing, and worthy of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Overview of His Life
Review: In a quest to read a biography of every American president, I found this one of Cleveland a satisfying and easy read. Jeffers doesn't seek to make the bio an in-depth study of his personal knowledge of English vocabulaly; thus the easier read, a welcome break from the 600-pagers of some other presidents. Although over 300 pages, this biography goes fast and I didn't find myself wishing it would end. It gave the facts truthfully, thoroughly and precisely; and that's what I needed.
Rating:
Summary: Painless Backgrounder
Review: Jeffers provides a painless background on one of the least-remembered Presidents for those who need to fill in the blank spots of their US history timelines. The writing is fluent and the narrative moves quickly. But the book is not for scholars. Important issues of the times, including the Financial Panic of 1893, the free-silver movement, Hawaii and the imperialist impulse, and the growth of organized labor are covered in a few passages or pages. I especially found the discussion of Cleveland's racial attitudes and civil rights policies insufficient; for a President governing during the implementation of Jim Crow, more than a few paragraphs about the issue were warranted. For detailed discussions of those important historical issues, the reader will have to go to more specialized sources.
Rating:
Summary: Painless Backgrounder
Review: Jeffers provides a painless background on one of the least-remembered Presidents for those who need to fill in the blank spots of their US history timelines. The writing is fluent and the narrative moves quickly. But the book is not for scholars. Important issues of the times, including the Financial Panic of 1893, the free-silver movement, Hawaii and the imperialist impulse, and the growth of organized labor are covered in a few passages or pages. I especially found the discussion of Cleveland's racial attitudes and civil rights policies insufficient; for a President governing during the implementation of Jim Crow, more than a few paragraphs about the issue were warranted. For detailed discussions of those important historical issues, the reader will have to go to more specialized sources.
Rating:
Summary: Clevland should be covered in that audio series on
Review: president "Character Above All". He had it. He was a strong president in an era of weak & little remembered presidents between Lincoln & Roosevelt. He stands out if we take a little time to consider him. His was not a towering intellect but he worked hard at understanding everything that came before him. He was somewhat bereft of political skills but didn't care & didn't work at it. His fiscal responsibility & insistence on honesty & merit in the civil service gained him no friends in many of the big city political machines that existed in that era.
His integrity & decency did not allow him to compromise when he knew he was right. The tariff issue was one such example of his integrity & cost him the election of 1888. But he came back in 1892, the first & only president to do that. Unfortunately, that is what he is most remembered for. Paul Jeffers has written a popular & well publicized book on this very good but obscure president. It may be on the light side but it is just right for starters & appreciated.
|
