The President is a Sick Man

Author: Matthew Algeo

Genre: History / Biography

Publisher: Chicago Review Press Incorporated, 2012

Pages: 272

Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: On July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland vanished. He boarded a friend’s yacht, sailed into the calm blue waters of Long Island Sound, and—poof!—disappeared. He would not be heard from again for five days. What happened during those five days, and in the days and weeks that followed, was so incredible that, even when the truth was finally revealed, many Americans simply would not believe it.

The President Is a Sick Man details an extraordinary but almost unknown chapter in American history: Grover Cleveland’s secret cancer surgery and the brazen political cover-up by a politician whose most memorable quote was “Tell the truth.” When an enterprising reporter named E. J. Edwards exposed the secret operation, Cleveland denied it. The public believed the “Honest President,” and Edwards was dismissed as “a disgrace to journalism.” The facts concerning the disappearance of Grover Cleveland that summer were so well concealed that even more than a century later a full and fair account has never been published. Until now.

Review: I'll be honest, I primarily chose this book for the title. Throughout history many people have thought the President, whichever President it was, is a sick man. 

In all seriousness though, this novel is really really good. The author's writing style reminded me of Erik Larsen. Somehow these authors were able to take a minor, and in some cases, forgotten piece of history and turn it into a readable novel.

Perhaps at times Algeo got a little side tracked and went off on a tangent, but he managed to make the tangent interesting too and did tie it back into the main topic.

This was a far more enjoyable read than I had anticipated.