And Empire at the Dawn of the American Century

What a wonderful historical storyteller! Scott Miller has "nailed" the historical non-fiction to create a compelling, edge of your seat real life suspense/drama. If you've ever desired to journey back in time to the gilded age and capture the "feel" of the era and discover what was really going on, this is the book. No glossing over of details either. There are times the finite details are appropriately shared. Your are truly "in the seat" of President McKinley, the anarchists (including Czolgosz), the tumultuous politics, the explosion of the USS Maine, the naval landing in Cuba and subsequent battle with Spanish troops, the Commodore Dewey led naval battle in Manila harbor and other vibrant players of the time (especially enjoyable was the heart pounding capture of Philippine Resistance Commander Aguinaldo). Without question, one of the best historical non-fictions I have read in years (and Ive read quite a few). I look forward to Millers next masterpiece. Without question, Miller is my new favorite author.

The life and times of president William McKinley are detailed along with his assassin. The author tries to combine these two stories into one book but it doesn't work. There isn't enough material about the assassin's life. He seems forgotten in the book until the end and the author spends more time exploring the anarchists and labor issues than his story.

President McKinley and the history of the United States are examined in detail however. It's an interesting point in our nation's history. This part was enjoyable and fair to the times and people involved.

Just didn't come together for me.

"The President and the Assassin" tells the parallel stories of President William McKinley who was leading the United States to threshold of the American Century and Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist drifter who would gun him down in Buffalo. More than the stories of two people, it is the stories of movements that were pulling America in opposite directions.

The focus on McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt brings up much that is found in other volumes with an emphasis on the governing class' fear and concern about the anarchist movement. The reader comes to understand that, in his day, McKinley was a revered leader, not the generally forgotten predecessor of TR as he is now remembered.

The perspective of this book that I found to be most interesting is the explanation of the sources and significance of the anarchism that really threatened America as it strode onto the World Stage. This book reveals anarchism's roots in Europe and how the "propaganda of the deed" was used on both sides of the Atlantic. It enables the reader to understand that the assassination of McKinley was not an isolated incident but a blow by a Trans-Atlantic Angel of Death that snuffed out the lives of European leaders along with McKinley. There was a movement that saw the world in a struggle between the rulers and the ruled. Others who carried this virus to America play prominent roles in the story.

Besides recalling a tragic murder, "The President and the Assassin" tells the story of a struggle for the heart of America, a time when the stable, Shining City on a Hill was in the future, a time when a tumble into revolution and disorder was viewed as a real possibility, not a paranoid dream. While not a conspiracy per-se, the placement of this crime in the world-wide ferment makes author Scott Miller tale, in my view, a much more interesting one than the story of the Kennedy assassination and, perhaps, even the Lincoln conspiracy.

Scott Miller's 2011 book The President and the Assassin explores an important period in American history, the turn of the last century, when the United States made the transition from fledgling nation to world power. Manifest destiny took another step as the nation expanded from a continental one to one possessing overseas territories. In alternating chapters, Miller tells us about President William McKinley and the nation he lived in, and about the conditions of the working man from which his assassin Leon Czolgosz emerged, culminating into a time when their two paths converge one day in Buffalo.

McKinley was the last of the Civil War veterans to become President. He came into office denying any expansionist ambitions, but quickly found his nation in conflict with Spain over the fate of an island south of Florida called Cuba. Miller give a fair and interesting description of how the US soon found itself in conflicts in Cuba and the Philippines and how those conflicts were fueled by cheerleaders like William Randall Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer and the popular Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. He goes on to describe how the United States won relatively easy victories in both theatres while struggling with the issue of how to deal with the local insurgents. As the nation prospered from it's expanded global holdings, greater access to international markets and from becoming a more important player on the world stage, McKinley took advantage of how the nation's economic fortunes improved as the result of the nation's changing international profile and the positive effect on his electability.

Meanwhile, Miller describes the treatment of workers dependent on employment with industrialists who were determined to increase profits by cutting wages while exerting more labor from their workers. He describes the importation of anarchism into the United States, the actions of anarchists such as Albert Parsons and Emma Goldman, and the violent clashes which occurred between employers' forces and the rank and file workers. All of this helped to mold a young Leon Czolgosz. Miller describes the formulation of Czolgosz's plan to stalk the President and emulate European anarchists who saw it as their duty to help the working man by assassinating the monarch. Even after his plan does not have the effect he desired, Czolgosz maintains his mantra that he has simply done his duty.

When President and assassin meet in Buffalo at the exposition, Miller gives us a front row seat for the President's last days, the assassination, the medical care given to the ailing President, the treatment and trial of the accused and of Czolgosz's sentence and execution. Miller describes not only what happened, but also puts us in the place of the principal characters as well as giving us a sense of the mood of the nation. He concludes with an aftermath describing where the supporting characters ended up and how the predominant issues of the day played out.

Miller takes a period of American history that is not often the subject of historical scrutiny and makes the reader realize what an important time this was in the transition of the United States. He makes us appreciate how and when this transition occurred and how it contributed to the nation that exists today. I would classify this as a worthwhile read for all serious and amateur presidential historians, as well as anyone who just wants to read some entertaining and interesting history.

Wow, this was an unexpectedly fantastic book. Don't let the tabloid title scare you off. It is an example of how history *should* be written (though admittedly I listened to the full-length audio version). This book really "puts you there" into the final decades of the 19th century. I felt that I truly got a sense of the politics, economic forces, and culture of the time. I initially bought the book because the McKinley bio (by Kevin Phillips) I recently read was so poorly done. I wanted another bite at the McKinley apple, to understand who he was and why he was so important. This book does that and so much more. The author uses a vast array of contemporary sources to flesh out and humanize the men and women of the period, and to make the issues which they fought and died for come alive. In addition to McKinley, the book covers the major elections of the time, the rise of William Jennings Bryan and Teddy Roosevelt, the Spanish-American War, the public debates over socialism, imperialism, protectionism. It also touches on how the media were run, advances in science and technology, changes in the broader American public opinion. The author does an amazing job in being both comprehensive and compelling about a rather obscure (and potentially boring) period of US history. It was a historical page-turner. If he wants to write more books like this, I'm buying!

Very well written book, great research done to bring this typically glossed-over period in US history to life. I think that this book is a perfect example of how an author must fully shape the diagram of life that governed the people of these times before we can begin to understand their motivations. I now have a much deeper understanding of the late 1800s and was shocked to learn about the anarchy, and labor vs capital wars - and how prevalent it all was. I would have liked to have learned even more about that in this book. Still, The President and the Assassin should be on every history buff's shelf.

This is an excellent book that presents the origins of America as a world power. It covers a wide range of subjects, yet manages to be utterly readable and engrossing. From the concept of manifest destiny to the rise of unions, from money in politics to foreign wars, this book provides many insights into America in the 21st century as we continue to deal with many of these same issues. Some of these concepts have morphed in strange ways over the years, so that, for instance, the anarchists' anti-government message sounds very similar to the tea party's. But much remains the same including how Cuba continues to be a problem more than one hundred years later or how religion plays a central role in justifying any number of actions including invading other countries. Miller does a fine job of keeping multiple strands of narrative going until they tragically combine in the end with the assassination of McKinley.

Adequately written and to be fair to the author, he probabaly did all he could with the topic. The problem is that story is not a rich one. McKinley is not our most interesting president and Leon Czolgosz wasn't very interesting either. So the book bounces away from these two characters frequently to try to make it intestesting which makes it not well connected. Informative, but unless you really love history, not worth the read.

Scott Miller did a great job of telling the history of the dawn of the American Empire. His history of the last decade of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th are fascinating. His quick history of the Spanish-American war and the Philippine insurrection are captivating. Also, the history of the social problems of the era are examined and Miller clearly shows the hardships of the era while not drinking the Kool Aide.

The one great weakness of the book is that it spends very little time on the actual act of assassination. There is very little reporting on the suffering of the President and on the poor quality of medical care he received, even for the time. A greater examination of the assassination would have been of greater value to the book.

All in all this is a very good and very interesting book. I strongly recommend it.

This book showed up in my the store recommendations (as a result of reading The Last Lincolns) and I am very glad it did. The book is in the narrative history vein and Miller shows all the events that resulted in the confluence of Mckinley and Czolgosz.

It paints an excellent picture of the American imperialism of the time and the growing Anarchy movement which would help kickoff WW1 a little over a decade later. A fascinating read.

I prefer this book to Destiny of the Republic a book about a smilar subject because McKinley accomplished so much more then Garfield due to Garfields incredibly brief presidency.

Scott Miller writes as a journalist not a historian. As such, he puts together picture of the period, especially of President McKinley. I have read some about McKinley and the picture that Miller draws of a decent man trying to do a good job was the most true to life. it makes me think how different the Presidency has become in 100 years. McKinley was a patriot and a devoted husband. He seemed to lead America into the new century by being pushed by the period.

The alternating chapters between the Presdent and Czolgosz is an effective tool and actually brings some suspense.

I am not sure why Emma Goldman was focused upon but she was interesting.

As an aside usually McKinley is joined with Mark Hanna but Hanna plays a small part

In summary a story well told.

Cuba, the Phillipines, Anarchy, and Pan-Am Expostion, plus a lot more. I love this author's style. He has a way of choosing the interesting things about the time period and writing in a way that is informative without bogging the reader down with details. It was amazing to learn that a little more than 100 years ago, we as a country were doing a lot of the same things foreign policy wise that we are doing now. And home grown terrorism is not a new thing to America. I chose this book because I am trying to read one book about each of our presidents, and this one did not disappoint. McKinley is also portrayed as good guy that wants to expand American business opportunies, just like today.

An exceedingly entertaining book by Scott Miller that details the events (domestic and international) that led to the assassination of William McKinley by the social misfit Leon Czolgosz. Covering the Spanish/American war, the Haymarket bombing and the rise of Emma Goldman, Miller brings a lot together with much success. It's informative, scary, sometimes even oddly funny (McKinley had many quirks...like a perchant for taking unescorted strolls away from the White House). Reminiscent of Doctorow's RAGTIME (minus the fiction), it's chock full of colorful characters from Goldman to Teddy Roosevelt to John Hay.

What attracted me to this book was that it seemed like one of those all-encompassing stories in the vein of Eric Larson which presents a slice of history as an all-encompassing story.
Author Scott Miller covers a lot of ground in this book in respect to not only looking at one very fatal act (the assasination of President William McKinley by anarchist Leon Cyglosz(sp?), but also digging into the backgrounds of both men. Miller's research is very thorough and he has managed to present a well-balanced account of both mens lives and insert them in respect to the emerging new century and the changes that were occurring in this country as well as the world. While this book manages to look at McKinley and his policies which was informative, it was probably the quasi-anonymous assasin that had an odd sort of appeal to this reader in the respect that he was really sort of an non-descript sort of man who got involved in the socialist movement. Since I knew less about anarchy and people like Emma Goldman and Albert Parson and events such as the Haymarket Riot, this added a lot to my general understanding of the period and put McKinley's assasination into a different perspective for me.
After reading this book, I felt as though I had picked up a substantial amount of knowledge regarding this incident and the era covered and will use it as a springboard for further investigation.

I'm fascinated with 20th Century history. From the Great War to World War II to the Cold War--I just think it's such a fascinating century and the most transformative in human history (I know how much things have changed just in the 20+ years I've been on this Earth). Lately I've been reading books concerning the turn of the century, to get a better understanding of how the path we took started. This book isn't just about the murder of a president or the psyche of an assassin, it's also the story of how America began to become what it now is. Much I didn't know, much was learned, and there's nothing that I can complain of. Five stars, highly recommend it.

First, I have to agree with other reviewers that it's more like Sunday newspaper magazine essays loosely tied together. And, extraneous elements? Yes, it's also true that much of the "anarchist" side of the story, like injecting Emma Goldman into the story, is itself yet more problematic.

And, the source of one of two clear historical errors by Miller.

He claims Goldman spoke English with a "German accent." WRONG!

She was from Russia, not Germany. She was ethnically Jewish, not German. She may have spoken English with a Yiddish accent, but not a German accent.

Next, Miller claims the U.S. was the seventh largest nation-state, counting all possessions, at this time. I'm not sure how he gets there.

I have
1. Russia
2. (I think) British empire, not counting Canada as separate dominion. (Australia gained Dominion status in 1901.
3. (Maybe?) the French empire, but, with no India, setting aside Australia, I'm not sure it was bigger than the US.
4. China.
5. Canada, which was (I checked) just barely bigger than the US with Newfoundland a separate Dominion at this time.
6. US.

So, he's off by at least one, if not two, on his count.

I admit a fascination with murder and mayhem and looked to this book to educate me regarding the assassination of President McKinley. However, when I got into it, it was a far broader and far better book that a mere crime procedural. The author traces the lives of both the assassin and President McKinley and weaves the history of the country as a whole into his narrative. As such, it is much broader than merely about the assassination. If you called it a history of the 1890s it would still be an excellent book. If you are interested in history, you will enjoy both the topic and the writing style.

I found this an interesting read, however it covered the actual Assassination very briefly and did not provide any more insight to the man behind the crime than I had before reading the book. It did tell alot about the time period, painted a great picture of the failure of the anarchy movement and the rise of imperalism in this country. If you want to see how nothing has really changed in this country for a very long time and how politics are the same now as then...read this - it is educational - although disjointed in my opinion - but then Mr. Miller was telling a story about a very large window of experience - not the assassination per se, but rather a photosnap of that period in history. Sad sad really to see that things are still the same in america, unemployment and a general disregard for the working class.

The two aforementioned men are of course president McKinley- who revitalized the American economy, gained territory abroad, and brought about the american century- and the man who assassinated him. I enjoyed how the book kept shifting between McKinley's affairs and anarchist affairs which made it interesting when the two stories collided in a bang (quite literally). I liked how Miller also went into detail to describe the history of the anarchist movement and its origins. All in all, a great book that I highly recommend.

The author juxtaposes the assassination of President McKinley, the anarchist movement and life in the late 1800's and the Spanish-American war in one absolutely riveting read. I learned many details of this period in American history that I had had no idea of. I found the book both extremely educational and hard to put down.

If you like well-written, readable history, this is for you. The parallel stories of President McKinley and his assassin are facinating. Really paints an interesting picture of an era that set the stages for major events of the 20th Century. Highly recommended.

Wonderful book. Anyone who loves history will enjoy reading the ends and outs of this novel. It takes place during a period of time that I myself do not read too much about, but this book has changed the way I look at the late 1800's and early 1900's. It really made me want to find out more about the big titians of early industry. I didn't realize until I read the book that we were still interested in aquiring more land. The stories included of Cuba, Phillipines and Hawaii make for good reading. The President and the Assassin made me realize how much history really does repeat itself.

This book interested me since I knew very little about the period in history it covers. The book establishes the time period and the characters and events of the era very well. I think the author conveys the political atmosphere effectively and describes several of the anarchists fully. Well written and easy to understand. I feel that I have learned about McKinley and his assassin as well Dewey, Hay, Parsons and Hanna.

Scott Miller, who writes for banker-owned publications, and earned his first book contract from a banker-owned publisher, writes a tale of McKinley and his assassin that reveals . . . well, the murderer was just a lone nut and an anarchist. Wow, I'm blown away by the originality of the premise and the "facts" used to back it up. Okay, enough sarcasm. Not every mysterious death in America needs a "conspiracy theory" to shed some light on it, but when a US President is shot and then dies from complications associated with gangrene from a botched operation performed by a gynecologist, it should at least raise peoples' eyebrows a little. Especially when the bullet (plucked out during the autopsy) quite possibly did not match the caliber of the murder weapon (a tiny, incidental detail omitted from Miller's 432-page book). That possibility certainly might explain the bungled effort to "save" the president's life after he had been shot by giving him the worst medical care and treatment available to the point of being laughable (if it wasn't so sad). Could there have been another gunman involved? We will never know for sure. But one thing we DO know. A lot of very powerful people of the day wanted McKinley six feet under. And they got their wish from an assassination that should not have been fatal, even by early Twentieth Century standards.

The President and his Assassin is yet more of the same tripe that has been pedaled for the past hundred or so years in America as clever, insightful journalism. McKinley died a mere twelve years before the Federal Reserve was put in place. The President at the time that The Fed took control of the US economy "for its own good"? A prominent Princeton professor (with a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins) who came from a long line of European bankers who also happened to hate McKinley. His name? Woodrow "Woody Woodpecker" Wilson. And when this piece of tweed-wearing blue blood trash wrote a confession about what he'd done to America and its system of credit, etc., banker-owned publications like Salon.com continue to discredit his confession, even to this day, claiming it was collected from two of Woodpecker's speeches and cobbled together as a way to discredit the Fed. Good one. Yeah, right.

Scott Miller: You suck. How naive do you think your reading public really is? How many US presidents were assassinated, died of strange complications, or were the attempted targets of botched assassinations? Count 'em up, wise guy. And how many of these attempts and assassinations were committed by "lone" deranged individuals? It boggles the mind how many brainwashed people (especially the well indoctrinated . . . er, I mean "well educated" ones) actually believe well reviewed fairy tales such as Scott Miller's book that was written to keep the status quo in place.

The timing of this book is truly priceless, coming as it does a few months before the US dollar tanks in September or thereabouts. And "journalists" like Scott Miller certainly did their part to help speed up the process. Thanks, buddy! You . . . don't rock.