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50th out of 58 books
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27 voters
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth
by
Matthew Algeo (Goodreads Author)
On July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland vanished. He boarded a friend’s yacht, sailed into the calm blue waters of Long Island Sound, and--poof!--disappeared. He would not be heard from again for five days. What happened during those five days, and in the days and weeks that followed, was so incredible that, even when the truth was finally revealed, many Americans simp...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
May 1st 2011
by Chicago Review Press
(first published 2011)
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Matthew Algeo presents a fascinating account of the little known medical emergency of July 1893 that took the redoubtable President Cleveland on a journey of secrecy and deception amid the most serious financial crisis in the nation's history (until the Great Depression). Grover Cleveland's reputation as an honest reformer is merged with the very clear view of him as a determined and secretive politician. The only Democrat president from Buchanan to Wilson, Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms...more
The President is a Sick Man: etc. is interesting as far as it goes. The descriptions of Steven Grover Cleveland, known by family and oldest friends as Steve, was complete. The mini-bios of others associated with the secret operation and the reporting of it were adequate if not inspiring. I think the big lack was on the medical side. If Cleveland's unusual tumor was a fast-growing cancer, how could he have lived for 15 more years? Perhaps it wasn't cancer. On the other hand, when he died in great...more
I loved this book. Algeo is a fabulous writer, and he tells a story so smoothly that you're pulled along scarcely noticing the pages turning beneath your fingertips. I've been reading a lot of books that deal with the late 19th and early 20th centuries because I think in some key ways, the political, social, and economic climates we're experiencing now are mimicking those of that time period.
Here, Algeo takes us into the life of President Cleveland and a surgery he arranged secretly to remove a...more
Here, Algeo takes us into the life of President Cleveland and a surgery he arranged secretly to remove a...more
The President is a Sick Man is the perfect beach read. The subject is a perfect balance of quirk, period, and philosophy (quirky because an obscure 19th century president had a secret surgery on a boat, a period piece because the gilded age is full of color, and philosophical because questions about the public's right to know what's going on with their president and the White House's relationship with the press have tremendous possible implications beyond the triviality of a single episode). It'...more
I've told the story of President Grover Cleveland's secret oral cancer surgery to my college history students for yers and this book gives a complete historical account of this little-known episode in American history and places it into its historical context in a very readable and interesting way. Grover Cleveland is the only U.S. president to serve two nonconsecutive terms and shortly after beginning his second term in 1893, he discovered a growth on the roof of his mouth. Unfortunately, the c...more
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The 1880s and 1890s are a fascinating time with so many "modern conveniences" developed in that time - the telephone, automobiles, electricity and antiseptic medicine. In an incredibly short 10 years, this country went from having President Garfield die, not from an assassins's bullet but infection from doctors using dirty hands to probe his wound, to President Cleveland surviving major surgery (albeit on a boat) under sterile conditions. Even then, the idea of doctors washing their hands was so...more
I was really looking forward to reading this book. But shortly after beginning I started to have misgivings that were never really satisfied. The title of the book is more than a bit deceiving. Grover Cleveland's secret surgery was certainly the central focus of the book, but that could have easily been handled in a better edited package less than half the size of this book.
In reality this book is just as much a look at Cleveland's time in office and the Panic of 1893 and the ensuing financial s...more
Alego writes a fascinating account of Grover Cleveland's progress from Buffalo's defender of the everyman to friend of the nation's many tycoons, the economic circumstances surrounding his presidency's two non-consecutive terms, and, of course, the scandal of the secret operation and its ultimate public resolution. Along the way, bits of social history pepper the story -- including appearances from L. Frank Baum (the author posits on how double-meanings in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz serve as sta...more
This book is the second on the list of books I'm reading this summer to learn more about the U.S. presidents between Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Prior to reading The President Is a Sick Man, I knew little about Grover Cleveland beyond the fact that, as our 22nd and 24th presidents, he is our only president elected for two non-consecutive terms. Algeo has written an engrossing portrait of Cleveland as a man who overcame an impoverished childhood to self-study law despite the lack of an under...more
This is the story of Grover Cleveland and the hard working reporter who told the story of a secret health matter, only to be branded a liar.
Cleveland had a cancerous tumor in his mouth. Ulysses S. Grant had just died a public and painful death from the dread disease, cancer. Cleveland feared the country, in the midst of a depression, could bot handle another medical disaster in their leader, so he wanted to keep it a secret.
A group of doctors and a dentist were sworn to secrecy, and put aboard a...more
Cleveland had a cancerous tumor in his mouth. Ulysses S. Grant had just died a public and painful death from the dread disease, cancer. Cleveland feared the country, in the midst of a depression, could bot handle another medical disaster in their leader, so he wanted to keep it a secret.
A group of doctors and a dentist were sworn to secrecy, and put aboard a...more
Grover Cleveland was a man whose personal motto was "Above all, tell the truth." Yet when push came to shove, he managed to perpetuate one of the biggest deceptions in Presidential history. In this book, Matthew Algeo tells the little-known story of the secret surgery done on Cleveland's mouth to remove a cancerous growth in the summer of 1893. The U.S. was in the midst of the worst financial downturn until the Great Depression and Cleveland, newly-elected, was faced with having to deal with the...more
If you like historical oddities of the American presidency then you'll love this book. This is a story about the presidency of Grover Cleveland but it's also a story about 19th century journalism, and crude medicinal practices.
I really enjoyed this retelling of a mysterious period In presidential history. Long before the glaring cameras of the 24 hour cable news operations, Pres. Grover Cleveland managed to sneak out of the White House and receive a secret oral surgery to remove a cancerous tum...more
I really enjoyed this retelling of a mysterious period In presidential history. Long before the glaring cameras of the 24 hour cable news operations, Pres. Grover Cleveland managed to sneak out of the White House and receive a secret oral surgery to remove a cancerous tum...more
My first reaction was: President Cleveland is sick? Wait until this guy finds out he's dead? Can you imagine how long the book title will be then?
I thought this was a perfect 3 1/2-star book, but I bumped it up because I found the bit about the Wizard of Oz totally fascinating. I will never look at it the same way again. Plus it's a great cocktail story beyond telling everyone those damn flying monkeys always scared the crap out of me.
The author's subtle attempts to draw parallels between the 18...more
I thought this was a perfect 3 1/2-star book, but I bumped it up because I found the bit about the Wizard of Oz totally fascinating. I will never look at it the same way again. Plus it's a great cocktail story beyond telling everyone those damn flying monkeys always scared the crap out of me.
The author's subtle attempts to draw parallels between the 18...more
Grover Cleveland was operated on for mouth cancer and kept it a secret from the nation! The operation took place on a boat and was way ahead of its time. The whole operation was denied, and people were only told that the President had a couple of teeth pulled while on a fishing trip.
A reporter got wind of the story and wrote about it. He ended up going to court and his honesty was called into question. After President Cleveland died, one of the doctor's wrote an account of the operation and vin...more
A reporter got wind of the story and wrote about it. He ended up going to court and his honesty was called into question. After President Cleveland died, one of the doctor's wrote an account of the operation and vin...more
During his second term Grover Cleveland essentially disappeared for a few days to have a secret surgery to excise a tumor on a boat. Crazy, right?!? Algeo is a great reporter, researcher, and storyteller, using this one event to present a little bit of biography on Cleveland, a history of the money issue (gold standard v. silver) that set off the worst financial crisis in America that was not the Great Depression, surgical history, and about a dozen other less important topics. The attention to...more
Matthew Algeo’s “The President Is a Sick Man” is popular history writing at its best, illuminating a long forgotten piece of American history with careful research and thoughtful insight. Why Grover Cleveland sought to hide from the public his oral surgery for a possible tumor by having the operation on a yacht in the Atlantic makes for involving reading. Algeo shows how the secret operation took place with the backdrop of a nation in the midst of a bitter fight on the gold vs. silver standard,...more
This book is a highly entertaining, easy, and informative read. The history of medicine, politics, and journalism makes for a wonderful cultural, political, and scientific stew.
The title is a bit misleading, as Algeo does not present much (if any) evidence that "Grover", as the author occasionally calls him, ever personally vilified the journalist who wrote the story about his secret surgery. Also, in the preface (page IX), makes the outrageous claim that the book is about "a brazen political c...more
The title is a bit misleading, as Algeo does not present much (if any) evidence that "Grover", as the author occasionally calls him, ever personally vilified the journalist who wrote the story about his secret surgery. Also, in the preface (page IX), makes the outrageous claim that the book is about "a brazen political c...more
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I didn't know much about Cleveland prior to reading this book and while its focus was primarily on his illness and operation, I did pick up quite a bit regarding him and his contemporaries. Also fun to stumble across tie-ins to other books about others I had read, Teddy Roosevelt in particular, as well as curious anecdotes such as the following.
At a formal Washington DC dinner in 1947, Grover Cleveland's widow Francis Folsom Cleveland Preston was seated next to Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower had...more
At a formal Washington DC dinner in 1947, Grover Cleveland's widow Francis Folsom Cleveland Preston was seated next to Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower had...more
This almost unbelievable story is the actual history of how Grover Cleveland had a bone cancer operation on his jaw while floating around in Long Island Sound on a friend's yacht! He did this to avoid having the press (and the voting public) find out that he was sick. Imagine a time when our President could disappear from view for weeks on end and have no one in the country particularly concerned about this. The country was told the President was on vacation and the country believed it. Only a f...more
Excellent, readable history about the ground-breaking, secret surgery endured by Gover Cleveland during his presidency. The surgery removed a malignant tumor in his mouth and was so successful that he went on to live over a decade following the operation. The book is very interesting for the medical history as well as the background of the "Great Panic of 1893" The economy was in a tailspin, unemployment was high, stocks were plumeting...sound familiar? The contentious question of the day was wh...more
Interesting portrait of presidential medicine and late 19th Century medicine in general. Sympathetic overview of the journalist who exposed the cover-up and the cutting-edge doctor who spearheaded the procedure which saved Grover Cleveland from mouth cancer. Good deal of information about the Silver Purchase Act, which Cleveland fought to repeal in favor of the gold standard. Lost of Philadelphia in the book - the author also wrote a book about the "Steagles" a few years ago. From here, I remain...more
After reading three duds in a row, it was great to read this book. It was fun, interesting and really well paced. Not knowing too much about Grover Cleveland, it was interesting to read about his pre-presidential life as a reformer. Also, it was really intriguing to see how Democrats were the fiscal restraint party of the late 1800s. The party of the people wanted fiscal restraint while reforming social programs.
The illness that Cleveland was interesting as well, and the secret surgery, which st...more
The illness that Cleveland was interesting as well, and the secret surgery, which st...more
This was a quick read on an incident in history that I had been previously unaware. It set the scene well, giving the details of the whole event in a way that made it understandable and really put it in the context of the times. Based on the very long subtitle, I was expecting more of a concerted effort to vilify the journalist from the President (as opposed to the effort that was made by competing journalists) beyond simply denying the truth of his story, though perhaps that subtitle was a bit...more
On July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland vanished. He boarded a friend’s yacht, sailed into the calm blue waters of Long Island Sound, and--poof!--disappeared. He would not be heard from again for five days. What happened during those five days, and in the days and weeks that followed, was so incredible that, even when the truth was finally revealed, many Americans simply would not believe it.The President Is a Sick Man details an extraordinary but almost unknown chapter in American history:...more
This book worked on a number of levels. The author focuses on the secret cancer operation of Grover Cleveland, but also explored 19th century attitudes towards both cancer and the public's right to know about the president's health; the evolution of American journalism and a reporter's right to protect sources; the battle between gold and silver forces; the role of various First Ladies; and more. I did not know much about the Cleveland presidency before I read the book and when finished, I was s...more
It is Independence Day weekend and the President of the United States is about to step onto the deck of a luxury yacht to steam his way from Washington DC to his summer getaway in Cape Cod. For four days he will disappear from the public eye … and no one will really know where he went, or what he was doing.
This might sound a bit like the beginning of a John Grisham thriller -- except that it really happened. I wish that author Matthew Algeo hadn't given so much of the story away in the ridiculou...more
This might sound a bit like the beginning of a John Grisham thriller -- except that it really happened. I wish that author Matthew Algeo hadn't given so much of the story away in the ridiculou...more
The easy to read narrative with interesting human interest side stories, belies the depth of what is presented. While the focus is President Grover Cleveland's secret operation in 1893, the author relates how the President's health and the resulting pressures on him influenced the gold/silver debate and may have influenced the course of labor history.
Author Matthew Algeo begins with a brief background of Grover Cleveland, his family and how his career began in Buffalo, NY. Eventually he became...more
Author Matthew Algeo begins with a brief background of Grover Cleveland, his family and how his career began in Buffalo, NY. Eventually he became...more
Despite the cheeky extended title, Algeo has written a very straightforward history book in The President is a Sick Man. His writing is engaging if uneconomical, and the story never ceases to be interesting.
Perhaps the book's biggest fault is its lack of focus. The ponderous title does not fully capture the book's subjects; the account of President Cleveland's secret surgery, as well as its run-up and aftermath, takes up only about half the book's slim 228 pages. Algeo spends a great deal of sp...more
Perhaps the book's biggest fault is its lack of focus. The ponderous title does not fully capture the book's subjects; the account of President Cleveland's secret surgery, as well as its run-up and aftermath, takes up only about half the book's slim 228 pages. Algeo spends a great deal of sp...more
This story is about a little-known incident in US history; at least it wasn't known to me and I like to think I have a fair handle on historical tidbits. Sometime shortly after his second inauguration, a cancerous lesion was found in President Grover Cleveland's mouth. In order to avoid the gossip and newshounds, he secretly boards a private yacht and has surgery that removes 1/3 of his upper jaw. How secret? It is only now just being dished out in this juicy book.
Sound fascinating? Maybe my des...more
Sound fascinating? Maybe my des...more
I read this book on the beach on vacation. I liked it for the most part. Grover Cleveland basically kept a surgery regarding the removal of a tumor in his jaw on board a ship secret from the American people. The doctors and friends who knew about it were all sworn to secrecy.
A reported discovered the truth about the operation but Cleveland denied the seriousness and possible implications if the tumor would have been cancer. Luckily, the tumor was not cancerous.
He was worried Americans might have...more
A reported discovered the truth about the operation but Cleveland denied the seriousness and possible implications if the tumor would have been cancer. Luckily, the tumor was not cancerous.
He was worried Americans might have...more
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When he's not writing his own biography in the third person, Matthew Algeo writes about unusual and interesting events in American history.
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure is his second book. His first, Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles - "The Steagles" - Saved Pro Football During World War II, won the 2006 Nelson Ross Award for outstanding pro football historiography.
Algeo is...more
More about Matthew Algeo...
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure is his second book. His first, Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles - "The Steagles" - Saved Pro Football During World War II, won the 2006 Nelson Ross Award for outstanding pro football historiography.
Algeo is...more
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