The President and the Assassin : McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century

A SWEEPING TALE OF TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY AMERICA AND THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCES THAT BROUGHT TWO MEN TOGETHER ONE FATEFUL DAY #160; In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassins bullet shattered the nations confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century. The President and the Assassin is the story of the momentous years leading up to that event, and of the very different paths that brought together two of the most compelling figures of the era: President William McKinley and Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who murdered him. The two men seemed to live in eerily parallel Americas. McKinley was to his contemporaries an enigma, a president whose conflicted feelings about imperialism reflected the countrys own. Under its popular Republican commander-in-chief, the United States was undergoing an uneasy transition from a simple agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse spreading its influence overseas by force of arms. Czolgosz was on the losing end of the economic changes taking placea first-generation Polish immigrant and factory worker sickened by a government that seemed focused solely on making the rich richer. With a deft narrative hand, journalist Scott Miller chronicles how these two men, each pursuing what he considered the right and honorable path, collided in violence at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Along the way, readers meet a veritable whos who of turn-of-the-century America: John Hay, McKinleys visionary secretary of state, whose diplomatic efforts paved the way for a half century of Western exploitation of China; Emma Goldman, the radical anarchist whose incendiary rhetoric inspired Czolgosz to dare the unthinkable; and Theodore Roosevelt, the vainglorious vice president whose 1898 charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba is but one of many thrilling military adventures recounted here. Rich with relevance to our own era, The President and the Assassin holds a mirror up to a fascinating period of upheaval when the titans of industry grew fat, speculators sought fortune abroad, and desperate souls turned to terrorism in a vain attempt to thwart the juggernaut of change. Praise for The President and the Assassin #160; [A] panoramic tour de force . . . Miller has a good eye, trained by years of journalism, for telling details and enriching anecdotes.The Washington Independent Review of Books #160; Even without the intrinsic draw of the 1901 presidential assassination that shapes its pages, Scott Millers The President and the Assassin [is] absorbing reading. . . . What makes the book compelling is [that] so many circumstances and events of the earlier time have parallels in our own. The Oregonian #160; A marvelous work of history, wonderfully written.Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World #160; A real triumph. BookPage #160; Fast-moving and richly detailed. The Buffalo News #160; [A] compelling read. The Boston Globe #160; One of Newsweek s 10 Must-Read Summer Books. The era leading up to the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 was defined by enormous expansion in American industry and muscle-flexing abroad as well as the potent rise of labor unrest and revolutionary ideas such as anarchy. The growth of railroads, steel output, consumer goods, patents and sheer American ingenuity enriched the captains of industry, while the laborers, assembly-line workers, coal miners and armies of poor immigrants performed mind-numbing tasks for quarters and dimes per day. «Wall Street Journal» correspondent Miller harnesses several narratives successively. He moves between the coffer-rich Republican election of the self-made man and Civil War hero McKinley against the populist William Jennings Bryan, to the meeting between the painfully shy working-class loner in Cleveland, Leon Czolgosz, and the charismatic anarchist speaker Emma Goldman. Fired up by Goldman’s words on social revolution and liberty—which in turn had emerged from a movement that Miller neatly traces from the work of Edmund Burke, William Godwin and the Transcendentalists—Czolgosz steeled himself for the “propaganda of the deed”—e.g., the kind of deadly terrorism that was rocking European capitals in the 1890s. Meanwhile, McKinley was faced with international crises that he would manipulate effectively for American imperialist gain, such as the annexation of Hawaii, defeat of Spain for the protectorate of Cuba and the Philippines, takeover of Guam and Puerto Rico and an attempted Open Door policy toward China (thwarted by the Boxer Rebellion). This is a wildly complex and significant period in American history, and Miller does a solid job of attending to the many boiling pots on the stove. [Kirkus Reviews][1] [1]: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/scott-miller/president-and-assassin/ In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. This book is the story of the momentous years leading up to that event, and of the very different paths that brought together two figures of the era: President William McKinley and anarchist Leon Czolgosz. The two men seemed to live in eerily parallel Americas. The United States was undergoing an uneasy transition from a simple agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse, spreading its influence overseas by force of arms. Czolgosz was on the losing end of the economic changes taking place--a first-generation Polish immigrant and factory worker, sickened by a government that seemed focused solely on making the rich richer. Journalist Scott Miller chronicles how these two men, each pursuing what he considered the right and honorable path, collided in violence at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.--From publisher description In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. This is the story of the momentous years leading up to that event, and of the very different paths that brought together two figures of the era: President William McKinley and anarchist Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who murdered him. The two men seemed to live in eerily parallel Americas. The United States was undergoing an uneasy transition from a simple agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse, spreading its influence overseas by force of arms. Czolgosz was on the losing end of the economic changes taking place -- a first-generation Polish immigrant and factory worker, sickened by a government that seemed focused solely on making the rich richer. Journalist Scott Miller chronicles how these two men, each pursuing what he considered the right and honorable path, collided in violence at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York