I read this and Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic back to back. Both document one of the most dramatic episodes in U. S. history, the unexpected nomination and subsequent assassination of James A. Garfield. Ackerman’s strength is his reportorial skill. He tells the story in largely chronological order, skillfully interweaving the parallel tales of Garfield, the assassin Charles Guiteau, Garfield’s successor Chester A. Arthur, and others. He begins however neither in 1880, the year of the election, nor with any of these three figures, but with an incident more than a dozen years earlier that led to undying enmity between two of the most powerful figures in post-Civil War politics, James G. Blaine and the larger-than-life though today widely forgotten Roscoe Conkling. Like many political feuds, theirs was not based on their political views, which were nearly identical, but sprang from a clash of ambition. They came to Chicago for the 1880 convention locked in a struggle for the nomination, Blaine as candidate, Conkling as manager of convention favorite U. S. Grant, seeking a then-unprecedented third term. Neither would budge, leading to a deadlock and the risk of defeat in November. Ackerman recounts this battle in compelling detail, a style he maintains throughout the book.
One aspect of Ackerman’s account is his take on the two principal characters. He does not say so directly, but his depiction of Garfield’s dealings with Conkling, Blaine, and Levi Morton portray a man of surprising naivete, easily swayed by stronger personalities. It is probable that the titanic battle over political appointments that ended with the shooting of Garfield and the political self-destruction of Conkling would have happened even had Garfield been more circumspect in his conversations, but Ackerman’s depiction left me questioning the political skill of this otherwise most admirable of men. Ackerman is even more revisionist in his assessment of the man who gunned down Garfield. Although described then and since as a disappointed office-seeker, Guiteau’s mental imbalance seemed indubitable. Ackerman doesn’t directly dispute this, but points out that Guiteau had a clear political aim — to make Arthur president — and achieved it, something that can be said of no other presidential assassin. Of course, Arthur went on to confound the expectations not only of Guiteau, but of every other American at the time, by turning his back on Conkling and embracing the cause of Civil Service reform.
A good read.
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The remarkable man from Ohio who beat the favorites and ended up as the Republican candidate and the eventual president. Of course, he has a very short presidency because he is assassinated by a disappointed office seeker early in his presidency. But this is the story of how the favorites such as Grant were turned aside in favor of Garfield. ( )

For me, the Presidency between Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt was a murky parade of difficult-to-distinguish whiskered men. The achievement of this book is to give personality and context not only to presidents like Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, but to congressmen and senators such as Roscoe Conkling and James Blaine, who arguably had far more influence over the government during their years of service (or self-service, as the case may be). These people and their political, not to say personal, conflicts come alive as vividly as more contemporary politicians such as Newt Gingrich and John Boehner. It's decently entertaining reading, and I now have a much better understanding of how government worked in the First Gilded Age—the second, of course, being our own. ( )

The Gilded Age was a fascinating time: business tycoons in the East, cowboys and outlaws in the West, a booming country when a man born in a log cabin could become President of the United States. James Garfield was one of these - from rough poverty, Garfield became a highly educated man who eventually became a Major General in the Union Army and elected Congressional Representative from Ohio. During his time in Congress, James Blaine and Roscoe Conkling had a falling out over political maneuvering. Now, this normally wouldn't be anything of lasting consequence, but Blaine and Conkling were political bosses of Maine and New York, respectively, and both had egos bigger than the United States. This feud eventually became a split within the Republican party into the Stalwart faction who answered to Conkling and their opponents, the Half-Breeds, led by Blaine.

Fast forward to the 1880 election: the leading candidate was Ulysses Grant, trying for a third term and supported by Conkling and the Stalwarts. The main opposition was Blaine, with John Sherman a distant third and supported by Garfield. Through some incredible political maneuvering, the well-regarded Garfield became the Republican candidate, eventually winning the election.

Ackerman's The Dark Horse: the Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield is, not surprisingly, about the election of 1880, the short presidency of Garfield, and how that led to Garfield's shooting and ultimate death. What's great about the book is that it's also about the Blaine/Conkling feud and how it rippled into everything associated with the choosing of candidate Garfield, the course of the election, and the completely dysfunctional relationship between Garfield and the Senate. It's about the patronage system and power, and about how the system enabled Conkling and those like him to control the political life of our country. It's about how Garfield finally stood up to Conkling and how Conkling's ego brought about his own downfall. And it's about how the split led a disturbed, wannabe-Stalwart to shoot Garfield to make room for Chester Arthur, a close friend of Conkling to take over as President following Garfield's death.

The Dark Horse is a great book about an interesting, and not very well known President. Highly recommended! ( )

I learned a great deal from this well-written book, which covers but a few months in the life of a little-known President.

There are a few typos in the text. The index is incomplete, which is troublesome. ( )