Reviews for Democracy in desperation

The average rating for Democracy in desperation based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-02 00:00:00 Patrick Cornell If anything, this book proves that the only thing interesting about Cleveland was that he was the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-08-14 00:00:00 Aaron P Levi Grover Cleveland is portrayed in this book as an unbendingly honest and upright individual while many of the most significant "compromises" which he made during his two non-consecutive terms in the Presidency as well as his overall inefficiency and inflexibility are overlooked. Jeffers glides by the wholesale firing of tens of thousands of Republican office holders and replacement of them with "good Democrats" in a Spoils System run wild during 1885 and 1893, and also Cleveland's undiplomatic handling of the gold/silver issue which divided his own party and secured Republican control of the Presidency for 16 years following his terms. Jeffers swallows the self-promotional image of "unshakable integrity" put forth by the Cleveland Administration to unsophisticated voters of the day, but neglects to give sufficient attention to Cleveland as an effective, deal-cutting politician who manage to get his party's presidential nomination three times in succession. Even more ludicrous is the silly attempt by Jeffers to sanctify Cleveland at the expense of Bill Clinton without giving the slightest attention to the vast differences in the respective eras and the overall results of their two term administrations. --- At best, this is a pleasant "coffee table" book which draws almost exclusively from secondary, published sources and is not recommended for serious research and study. Cleveland was a good and important president. He deserves attention such as that provided in Richard E. Welch's excellent piece of scholarship entitled "The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland" (1988, University Press of Kansas).