Hardcover, 390 pages
English language
Published 1947 by Little Brown and Company.
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This full-length, fully realized biography introduces a new craftsman in the field of American historical literature, at the same time that it re-creates for belated public attention a little known stalwart of the past. John Bigelow was a vigorous nineteenth-century American, a man who achieved the goals of that century if they were marked by pronounced material success mixed with large public benefactions.
Associate of William Cullen Bryant on the New York Evoning Post, consul to France during the difficult period of the Civil War and minister at the time of "Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, political advisor to Tilden, John Bigelow had a part in most of the great events of his day One of the early founders of the Republican Party, he cleared the tracks for Grant's nomination, probably to his later regret, a liberal in the true sense, in his old age he carried on an unremitting fight …
This full-length, fully realized biography introduces a new craftsman in the field of American historical literature, at the same time that it re-creates for belated public attention a little known stalwart of the past. John Bigelow was a vigorous nineteenth-century American, a man who achieved the goals of that century if they were marked by pronounced material success mixed with large public benefactions.
Associate of William Cullen Bryant on the New York Evoning Post, consul to France during the difficult period of the Civil War and minister at the time of "Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, political advisor to Tilden, John Bigelow had a part in most of the great events of his day One of the early founders of the Republican Party, he cleared the tracks for Grant's nomination, probably to his later regret, a liberal in the true sense, in his old age he carried on an unremitting fight against high tariffs. Always a power in the council chambers, he never at rained, and as a Swedenborgian probably never honestly desired, the sort of position which from its title gives a man a line in the history texts. One of his most cherished projects was the founding of the New York Public Library.
This book is an account of John Bigelow's life and also of his times (1817-1911). This practical man and able public servant was a link between the centuries. In the course of his long, ever- active life he saw a revolution, usually but not always peaceful, in the life of the marker place, the forum, and the home.