Roscoe Conkling of New York

The political career and sometimes scandalous personal life of Roscoe Conkling (1829-1888) are vividly set forth in this definitive biography. During a significant period in American political development, Conkling reigned as Republican boss of the largest state in the Union and was a congressman and senator of great national influence. Making imaginative use of such primary sources as congressional records, newspapers, published reminiscences of contemporaries, and the correspondence of political leaders of the time, Mr. Jordan paints a convincing portrait of a complex man. Conkling's splendid oratorical talents, his unrelenting personal feuds, and his widely publicized love affair with Kate Chase Sprague are treated deftly and with sympathetic objectivity. Mr. Jordan's skill is also evident in his treatment of the minor characters: the fascinating Mrs. Sprague, the two presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield, and others.A striking and authoritative picture of the politics of the Gilded Age emerges from this lively account of a man who was, in many respects, characteristic of the era.