Announcing The Partisans: James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, and the Politics of Rivalry and Revenge in the Gilded Age

After going back and forth on this for months, my publisher and I have settled on a title for the upcoming book on James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling.

The Partisans: James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, and the Politics of Rivalry and Revenge in the Gilded Age traces the story of the feud that dominated American politics for almost 20 years after the Civil War.

James G. Blaine. Library of Congress photo.

Blaine and Conkling were two of the most important — and most colorful — figures in the politics of the late 19th century. Each of them rose to positions of power in the Republican Party and Congress. They ran against each other for the Republican presidential nomination in 1876. They faced each other four years later when Conkling backed Ulysses S. Grant and Blaine mounted another campaign for the party’s nomination. Their conflict paralyzed the presidency of James A. Garfield and fueled the insanity that led to his assassination. When Blaine finally succeeded in getting the Republican nomination for president in 1884, Conkling — by now out of politics — sat on his hands and contributed to Blaine’s narrow defeat.

Roscoe Conkling. National Archives photo.

Their compelling story begins in the shadow of Lincoln’s assassination and concludes as Theodore Roosevelt emerges on the national stage. It raises questions about political leadership, corruption, and reform that remain relevant today and sheds light on Reconstruction and the evolution of the Republican Party in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Along the way they encounter, work with, and fight against some of the most colorful and important figures of the era — Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Andrew Johnson, Horace Greeley, and Thaddeus Stevens, among others.

This will be my third book with Edinborough Press. Publication is expected later this year.

Puck cartoon showing President James Garfield hosing down foe Roscoe Conkling while James G. Blaine mans the firetruck.