Arch: The Life of Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.

by Brad Crouser

Newly revised and now available as a softcover, this is the story of West Virginia Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. Author Brad Crouser, a Charleston lawyer and former state tax commissioner, takes the reader from the turn of the Twentieth Century and Arch's grandfather, the entrepreneur F. T. Moore, to the present day of his Congresswoman daughter, Shelley Moore Capito, from the mountaintops of triumph to the valleys of tragedy, weaving a most colorful story that rivets the reader through thirty-one gripping chapters. Numerous stories include the near-fatal wounding of Sgt. Moore by a German machine gun in World War II; a gerrymandered Congressional race in which the entire Democratic Establishment, including three Presidents, tried to defeat him; the few minutes Moore was "premier" of the Soviet Union; being shot down in Vietnam and his 1968 helicopter crash in Lincoln County; the 1976 trial and acquittal; the creation of the state's Interstate highway system; and crimes that sent him to an Alabama prison. "He was, and will always be, a polarizing figure. I resisted the urgings of those who wanted me to portray Arch Moore as a villain, or the advice of others who wanted him presented as a saint," says Crouser about this, his second published book. "But he is neither. Instead, I tried to tell the story as fairly and accurately as I could and, in so doing, explain Moore's motivations in life and why, despite his illustrious career, he ended up getting into trouble with the feds. A genuine, three-dimensional subject has been presented, about whom the reader can draw his or her own conclusions."

648 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads)]

DNF 288 pg. (41%)

I read this book for a research project about something that Governor Moore worked on. I only read the chapters specific to his first two terms as governor, which ended up being almost half the book. From the beginning I could tell this author was very biased.. This is not an objective, professional biography of Moore’s life and career which is unfortunate because it's one of the only sources on Moore’s life. I don’t really recommend this book or if you read it, look to outside sources to get a second, unbiased, perspective.

Also sadly, I didn't find the info I was looking for.

[Cody Straley · Rating 1 out of 5]

A deeply biased book. I was hoping for an objective, professional biography of Arch Moore’s life. Instead what I got was a full throated defense of everything Moore ever did and plenty of jabs at anyone or anything that ran contrary to him. This book treats Moore as a second Messiah, blameless, and unfairly criticized and persecuted. Not to mention it is also riddled with grammatical errors. West Virginia deserves a better, scholarly analysis of this controversial, three-term Governor.