{"product_id":"unexpected-president-the-life-and-times-of-chester-a-arthur","title":"Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhen President James Garfield was shot in 1881, nobody expected Vice President Chester A. Arthur to become a strong and effective president, a courageous anti-corruption reformer, and an early civil rights advocate.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite his promising start as a young man, by his early fifties Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but brave, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. He surprised everyone -- and gained many enemies -- when he swept house and took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA mysterious young woman deserves much of the credit for Arthur's remarkable transformation. Julia Sand, a bedridden New Yorker, wrote Arthur nearly two dozen letters urging him to put country over party, to find \"the spark of true nobility\" that lay within him. At a time when women were barred from political life, Sand's letters inspired Arthur to transcend his checkered past--and changed the course of American history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president. It is the tale of a machine politician and man-about-town in Gilded Age New York who stumbled into the highest office in the land, only to rediscover his better self when his nation needed him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Chester A. Arthur, who knew? Scott Greenberger redeems our most forgotten president from the margins of history with verve and narrative skill. Arthur lived a life full of twists. His biography is a story of a moral tumble and a brave quest for redemption. Greenberger propels us towards his subject, finding the pathos in his fascinating life, and quietly demands that we give him his proper due.\"-- \u003cb\u003eFranklin Foer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e, former editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e and author of \u003ci\u003eWorld Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow Soccer Explains the World \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Shipwrecks. A crazed assassin. The frantic machinations of a deadlocked political convention. In this penetrating tale of madness, blundering, intrigue, and corruption at the height of the Gilded Age--that era that helped mold our own--Scott Greenberger gives us a keen and vivid portrait of President Chester Arthur, the most accidental of American chief executives, and the remarkable turns of fate that brought him to the White House.\"-- \u003cb\u003eJohn A. Farrell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e, author of Richard Nixon: The Life \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Scott Greenberger's sparkling narrative brings to life Chester Arthur's remarkable journey from lighthearted and cynical scion of New York's potent Republican machine to probity-minded president focused on the national interest. It's a poignant tale, as well as an important historical one, and it is captured here in vivid prose that dances upon a foundation of probing research.\"-- \u003cb\u003eRobert W. Merry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e, author of A Country of Vast Designs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eScott S. Greenberger\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the coauthor, with former Senator Tom Daschle and Jeanne Lambrew, of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e bestseller \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eCritical: What We Can Do about the Health Care Crisis\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Greenberger is currently the executive editor of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eStateline\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, a news website funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts that covers state politics and policy for dozens of US newspapers. He was a newspaper reporter for twelve years, first at the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAustin American-Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and then at the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and has also written for the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post, GQ, Glamour, Washington Monthly, Moment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e magazine, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington City Paper\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hachette","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45549865631930,"sku":"9780306922701","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0444\/2213\/5968\/files\/imageloader_20a082db-2a7d-43fc-8333-d33459124e41.jpg?v=1769771172","url":"https:\/\/naturenurture.shop\/products\/unexpected-president-the-life-and-times-of-chester-a-arthur","provider":"nature+nurture","version":"1.0","type":"link"}