Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884

Mark Summers challenges many preconceptions about Gilded Age politics in this close look at the infamous 1884 presidential campaign between Grover Cleveland and James G. Blaine. The mudslinging and slander were not for public entertainment, he argues, but to tear away or confirm votes that were in doubt during a time when voters were drifting away from party loyalty.