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Title: Too much politics, too little McKinley
Review: I have read 18 of the books in this series, and this one is by far the least satisfying. Most of the other volumes maintain a balance between the personal life of the president, and his administration and policies. Phillips leans so heavily in the latter direction that I hardly felt I knew anything about the man himself. And can you imagine a book about an assassinated president that contains NO ACCOUNT of the actual crime, and not even a mention of the assassin? Phillips was too busy trying to raise McKinley's sagging reputation (especially in relation to his successor, TR) to give us more details about his life, family, and untimely death. I learned a lot about tariffs, the gold standard, and our relationship with Britain, but not much about McKinley.
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