Jun. 25th, 2021

inverarity: (Default)
The man who would be President but never was.


Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman

Da Capo Press, 2015, 320 pages



A compelling new biography of America's most powerful speaker of the House, who held the divided nation together for three decades and who was Lincoln's guiding light.

In a little-known chapter of early American history, a fearless Kentucky lawyer rids Congress of corruption and violence in an era when congressmen debated with bullets as well as ballots. Harlow Giles Unger reveals how Henry Clay, the youngest congressman ever elected speaker of the House, rewrote congressional rules and established the speaker as the most powerful elected official after the president.

During five decades of public service - as congressman, senator, secretary of state, and four-time presidential candidate - Clay produced historic compromises that postponed civil war for 50 years. Lincoln called Clay "the man for whom I fought all my life".

An action-packed narrative history, Henry Clay is the story of one of the most courageous congressmen in American history.


The 'Great Pacificator,' a third of the Great Triumvurate, Abraham Lincoln's mentor, and four-times failed presidential candidate. )

Also by Harlow Giles Unger: My reviews of John Quincy Adams and Lion of Liberty: Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation.




My complete list of book reviews.

Profile

inverarity: (Default)
inverarity

May 2025

S M T W T F S
    1 2 3
4 5678 910
11121314 151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 06:15 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios