A thoroughly absorbing cultural biography of a figure who has long existed in the historical shadows but who we now know had a major impact on just about every important political and diplomatic initiative of the second half of the nineteenth century. I am grateful to Jeffrey Boutwell for his brilliant historical recovery of George Boutwell--a man who did what he could to create a better, more equitable America.--Robert S. Levine, author of The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

George Boutwell, one of the central political characters of his age, whose story charts the whole arc of the party of Lincoln, is at last brought vividly and brilliantly back to life--with vital lessons for our time about what it takes to defend democracy.--Sidney Blumenthal, author of The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln

Jeffrey Boutwell's deep dive into family letters, newspapers, historical archives, and contemporary accounts . . . makes a powerful case that farmer, governor, congressman, senator, and cabinet member George Boutwell deserves to be remembered, flaws and all, as one of America's greatest champions of human rights.--Edward Achorn, author of Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

In Jeffrey Boutwell's capable hands, the nearly forgotten nineteenth-century Massachusetts politician George Boutwell emerges as an Emersonian Representative Man . . . a self-made man of conscience. Richly contextualized and painstakingly researched, Boutwell is a classic political biography, a powerful and timely reminder that while personality may win the day, character makes a legacy.--Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

Taking readers from the antebellum era through the Civil War, into Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, Boutwell provides an insider's view of the pivotal moments that laid the groundwork for modern America.--Jonathan W. White, author of A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House

Boutwell the man was a hero, and Boutwell the book is a revelation, a gripping tale of how Americans struggled to make the promise of equality into something more than mere words.--Kermit Roosevelt, author of The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story

Spirited... A welcome introduction to a consequential but overlooked figure in 19th-century American history.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Jeffrey Boutwell's deeply researched and highly readable biography of his family member is a welcome addition to the literature not only of the Civil War and Reconstruction era but also of the later nineteenth century. A militant opponent of slavery, racial discrimination, and imperial overreach, George Boutwell has been neglected by historians but, thanks to this book, is no longer consigned to the shadowy sidelines of history.--Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life

Commendably balanced and well-researched... Boutwell has long deserved resurrection.--Harold Holzer "Wall Street Journal"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2025-01-21

Length: 368 pages