Monday, April 9, 2012

Mara, Wil. James Garfield.


Mara, Wil.     James Garfield.        Marshall Cavendish/Benchmark, 2012.  96p. $27.42.  ISBN 978-1-60870-183-4   elm/ms VG                 
James Garfield is a well-written book geared toward upper-elementary and middle-school student researchers. Mara provides readers with biographical data from Garfield's beginnings as a child in Ohio through his years in office.  He includes important events such as Garfield's college years at Williams College, his marriage to Lucretia Rudolph, and various career choices -- including teacher, Eclectic Institute’s school president, public speaker, politician, Ohio state senator, Civil War colonel, U.S. Congressman, and eventually the president of our great country.    There is a great deal of information leading up to Garfield’s presidential win in 1880 and assassination in 1881 by Charles Guiteau.  Even though Garfield’s presidency was short, the author presents readers with his often overlooked legacy. 
The book includes primary historical documents, color and black and white photographs, a chronolog, a glossary, a list of books and web sites for further reading, and a great comprehensive index.  It is part of the series Presidents and Their Times, each title of which examines the period and formative events of an individual president's term, and includes childhood character-building experiences, entry into politics, major events of the presidency, and a life after the presidency.         
Subject: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881.               Charleen Forba-Mayer

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