The Perogatives of Patronage and Power in American Politics - an Editorial Review of "A President's Story Too"

Book Blurb:

Between Lincoln and FDR, the Presidency and the United States come of age

In the wake of the Civil War, fourteen men will succeed Abraham Lincoln and attempt to reunify the United States. As their personal tales intertwine and overlap on their way to the Presidency, they defer to Congress until it is clear that Democrats and Republicans are more concerned with the prerogatives of power and patronage than Lincoln’s pledge of freedom and opportunity for all Americans. The 19th-century Presidents battle with Congress to reform how jobs and other benefits are dispensed, while the Presidents of the early 20th century find themselves presiding over a country that has transitioned from an agricultural economy—supported by slave and immigrant labor—to an industrial economy generating the wealth that thrusts the country onto the world stage. Through it all, the Presidents continue the novel practice of handing over power peacefully, even in the face of a Depression that will challenge the United States’ newfound status as a world power. 

“Brad McKim is a masterful storyteller. He seamlessly wove the stories of our first 15 presidents together into a compelling, interesting, and informative narrative.” —Scott Barker, Author, The Kings of War: How Our Modern Presidents Hijacked Congress’ War-Making Powers and What to Do About It

“McKim weaves fascinating stories of presidential lives from their youth through early love affairs and careers, into political prominence. Not a retelling of common knowledge, this book reveals a fabric of personal stories not found in high school history books.” —Jeff Bensch, Author, History of American Holidays

“I have read countless books on the country’s chief executives and I learned something about each president that I never knew before. I could not put A Presidents Story down and can’t wait to read the sequel!” —Bradley Nahrstadt, Author, Alton B. Parker: The Man Who Challenged Roosevelt

Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/TShC5

Author Bio:

Raised in Southern California, Brad McKim spent thirty years as a lawyer living in Colorado, Texas, Alaska and London, England. Through his work and love for travel he has visited all 50 states and over 75 countries. In 2015 he retired from the practice of law to pursue other passions including his lifelong interest in presidential history. His historical novels, A Presidents Story (published by History Publishing Company out of New York) and A Presidents Story Too (Outskirts Press), are the result. Brad now lives in Wyoming with his wife Kay. Visit bradmckim. com to learn more.

Editorial Review:

Title: A Presidents Story Too: Another Novel of Power and Personality

Author: Brad McKim

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 978-1977272027

Pages: 496

“A Presidents Story Too: Another Novel of Power and Personality” by Brad McKim is not your typical book about presidential history. It does not parade dates and statistics across pages like a textbook, but instead dares to depict the ambitions, disappointments, rivalries, and quiet heroism of American presidents and the people surrounding them, with a novelistic twist. For anybody who has ever found history boring or dull in the classroom, this book is like the novel your instructor neglected to assign: a vast epic of politics and personality written in crackling, exquisite writing.

In a historical sequence of episodes organized by era—from Reconstruction to the Great Depression—McKim lets us beyond the mahogany doors of power to eavesdrop on backroom negotiations, philosophical showdowns, and heartbreaking judgments that molded the American experience. We are not simply reading about Grant, Garfield, Cleveland, and Roosevelt but rather we are seeing them struggle with heritage, philosophy, and, in many cases, their own demons. While the story begins after Lincoln’s death, his influence is never far from view. McKim uses him as a moral compass, casting a long shadow over the decisions and ideals of the men who followed.

In the opening prologue, McKim immediately asserts the stakes and tone. We’re introduced to Senator Edmund G. Ross, caught in the moral and political vise of Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial. Here, McKim’s choice to focus the prologue not on Johnson or even Lincoln, but on a largely forgotten senator, sets the tone for the book: this is history from the margins as much as from the marble podium. “Abraham Lincoln was a fool. This heretical statement was not spoken aloud but reverberated in the beleaguered mind of Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas. But for the sixteenth President’s foolishness, Senator Ross would not be confronting his political demise…”

Ross’s internal conflict and the extraordinary cast of politicians surrounding him, from the calculating Thaddeus Stevens to the opportunistic Roscoe Conkling shows McKim’s strength in rendering historical figures as living, contradictory humans. McKim doesn’t reduce history to heroes and villains but prefers to portray it as theater, tragedy, and occasionally farce, which is an approach readers will adore as they delve deeper.

This tone continues in his profile of Ulysses S. Grant. The General-turned-President is drawn not as a “marble bust” but as a man who failed at farming, speculated poorly, drank often, and still rose to save the Union. Here, McKim’s narrative voice is dry, witty, and often laced with irony, which lends personality to even the driest events.

“By 1860, broke and depressed, Grant relented and did what he tried to avoid doing for two decades: He returned to Illinois and went to work in his father’s store… Then, the five most remarkable years in the short history of the United States commenced. By the end of those five years the store clerk in Galena, Illinois would be the obvious choice to be elected President in 1868.”

McKim’s structure, where each chapter centers on a president or pair of presidents, effectively allows him to develop both narrative momentum as well as thematic continuity. The section on Chester A. Arthur, for instance, is both a character study and an exploration of the spoils system. Arthur, often dismissed by history, is revealed through the lens of his marriage, his ambition, and his loyalty to political patrons like Conkling.

“Chet Arthur was a sycophant to be sure, but he was Roscoe Conkling’s sycophant… Nell Arthur also knew that Roscoe Conkling knew that Nell Arthur knew all this.”

In passages like this, McKim balances historical detail with sly commentary. We see that he doesn’t just report Arthur’s ascent but rather chooses to dramatize it, revealing the manipulations and marital strategies that made such a rise possible. The prose often sparkles with repetition and rhythm, giving the narrative a near-literary quality while remaining rooted in factual context. The book’s greatest strength is its refusal to canonize. Every individual featured is laid bare, from the pomp of Roosevelt to the tragedy of Hoover. The quieter chapters such as that of Benjamin Harrison, carry just as much weight as those about Wilson or Taft. Through these portraits, McKim builds not just a history of power, but of personality.

Readers will find themselves unexpectedly gripped by legal cases, cabinet appointments, and even 19^th-century fashion choices. By humanizing these leaders and the times they lived in, McKim ably bridges the gap between historical record and contemporary relevance.

This is a worthwhile read for anyone who loved Team of Rivals as well as those who enjoy political drama, presidential history, or historical fiction grounded in truth will find much to savor. Teachers may even consider assigning it for advanced students who are hungry for narrative nuance.

Conclusively, Brad McKim’s “A Presidents Story Too: Another Novel of Power and Personality” isn’t just another book about presidents. It’s undeniably a rich, literary chronicle of the flawed but fascinating men who led a severely flawed nation. With its compelling blend of scholarship and storytelling, it challenges the reader to see the presidency not as a series of monuments, but as a messy human saga of ambition, compromise, and, occasionally, greatness. Highly recommended!

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