Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man who Broke the Filibuster

by James Grant

James Grant's enthralling biography of Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of the House during one of the most turbulent times in American history--the Gilded Age, the decades before the ascension of reformer President Theodore Roosevelt--brings to life one of the brightest, wittiest, and most consequential political stars in our history.

The last decades of the nineteenth century were a volatile era of rampantly corrupt politics. It was a time of both stupendous growth and financial panic, of land bubbles and passionate and sometimes violent populist protests. Votes were openly bought and sold in a Congress paralyzed by the abuse of the House filibuster by members who refused to respond to roll call even when present, depriving the body of a quorum. Reed put an end to this stalemate, empowered the Republicans, and changed the House of Representatives for all time.

The Speaker's beliefs in majority rule were put to the test in 1898, when the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor set up a popular clamor for war against Spain. Reed resigned from Congress in protest.

A larger-than-life character, Reed checks every box of the ideal biographical subject. He is an important and significant figure. He changed forever the way the House of Representatives does its business. He was funny and irreverent. He is, in short, great company. "What I most admire about you, Theodore," Reed once remarked to his earnest young prot�g�, Teddy Roosevelt, "is your original discovery of the Ten Commandments."

After he resigned his seat, Reed practiced law in New York. He was successful. He also found a soul mate in the legendary Mark Twain. They admired one another's mordant wit. Grant's lively and erudite narrative of this tumultuous era--the raucous late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries--is a gripping portrait of a United States poised to burst its bounds and of the men who were defining it.

Genres: Biography, History, Politics, American History, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2011

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

James Grant, financial journalist and historian, is the founder and editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of the investment markets. His book, The Forgotten Depression, 1921: the Crash that Cured Itself, a history of America’s last governmentally unmedicated business-cycle downturn, won the 2015 Hayek Prize of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

Among his other books on finance and financial history are Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Simon & Schuster, 1983), Money of the Mind (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992), Minding Mr. Market (Farrar, Straus, 1993), The Trouble with Prosperity (Times Books, 1996), and Mr. Market Miscalculates (Axios Press, 2008).

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Reed, (1839-1902), was a Republican Congressman from Maine, serving from 1877-1899, and was Speaker of the House during the Presidential terms of both Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. Reed was arguably one of the more influential/powerful politicians to hold that position, nicknamed “Czar” Reed during his tenure. He then resigned from that lofty position and the House of Representatives in 1899, frustrated with his lack of power after the country went to war against Spain - a bold statement indeed.

Reed was “ahead of his time” on such issues as civil rights and women’s suffrage, not so much on free trade – he was a pro-tariff kind of guy. He also found the parliamentary machinations of Congress frustrating, constantly battling and goading his peers to change the rule-book – which Reed actually did once he became Speaker - so they could actually legislate and do their jobs. Reed also had a quick wit. When asked about being nominated by his party for the presidency he quipped, “They could do worse, and they probably will.” He opined that, “A statesman is a successful politician who is dead.” And after being shown the portrait above, he muttered, “Well I hope my enemies are satisfied.” (For the record, the artist, John Singer Sargent, was less than satisfied with the end result also. And, yes, Reed and Mark Twain were “buddies”.)

Since most of us do not remember him, “a life and times” of Mr. Reed is a worthy effort. Although it should be noted, with this book there’s a very heavy emphasis on “the times” – not a criticism, just an observation. Among the many topics chronicled here – the 1876 Presidential election, which makes the recent 2000 election look like a mere misunderstanding. The much heated and very lengthy monetary debate concerning the gold standard, bimetallism, i.e. silver and gold, greenbacks, the government surplus – the country actually had one back then – and inflation. And one that won’t fail to entertain – “counting the Quorum”. Back in Reed’s time Congress had a quirk in its procedures which allowed members to be physically present, but technically absent – thus allowing said members to “excuse themselves” from matters they didn’t care to contemplate, let alone vote on, without leaving the building or even the room. The author chronicles a few candid moments of such shenanigans which reads like a Monty Python skit.

This book is at its best when delving into and exploring the politics and personalities – including Reed’s - of the late 19th Century – and there were plenty of both. Yet it does drag at times, particularly when explaining/discussing monetary and economic theory, which may even test the patience of policy wonks. Also some of the Congressional transcripts presented here are too long. On the whole though, this is still an engaging and very interesting book. And well worth the read, if for nothing else, highlighting that Congressional partisan obstruction is by no means a new or recent phenomenon.

[Aaron Million · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thomas Reed's claim to fame, as it is, stems from the fact that he pushed through the end of the filibuster in the U.S. House of Representatives. While he was Speaker for six years, and served in Congress for twenty-two years, he had almost no legislation behind his name and never held any other office, despite being a (very) dark-horse candidate for President in 1896. To say he was a candidate is even a stretch as he just sat back and waited to see what happened - which basically was absolutely nothing as far as his perspective was concerned.

We get glimpses of Reed's larger than life personality. He himself was also larger than life physically thanks to his obesity. In addition to an insatiable appetite, he taught himself French, had a sharp, rather biting wit that he employed with impunity in the House, and seemed to be less than faithful to his wife. However, Grant chooses to focus on the professional side of Reed's life. Reed's wife makes occasional appearances, and his daughter even less so. Reed took many trips to Europe, but none are covered in detail. On page 21, Reed goes from finishing up his service as an Assistant Paymaster in the Civil War to being in the Maine legislature. More context and review of Reed's early life and rise in politics is needed.

Instead, Grant forces the reader to slog through page after page of boring House speeches by an interminable case of members. complete with denotations for when applause occurred and for which political party the applause was for. If this were just one or two key periods in Reed's career, it would be more understandable. But Grant does this constantly. He also tends to shift rapidly from one thing to the next without notice. Additionally, though the book is mainly chronological, often times Grant quickly goes back a year or two and this leaves the reader trying to remember what year the current part of the book is in.

One area that Grant seems especially interested in is the battle over which currency to use in the late 1800s. Page after page is devoted to fiscal policy and discussion of the fight between bimetallists (those who wanted both gold and silver as the standard U.S. currency), soft money persons (those who preferred a paper currency to that of coins), and those advocating either for or against gold or silver. The gold standard and the consequences of being on it or off of it also seems to cause Grant to get bogged down. If anyone has an interest in this particular area of study, they will find this interesting. But if not...

This book will most likely not appeal to many people. Unless you are particularly interested in late 1800s economic policy, currency issues, the House of Representatives, this book will read more as a bland history textbook than the biography of a Speaker of the House.

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book.

I highly recommend watching his appearance on C-Span with Brian Lamb (May 2011) for their discussion of Mr. Speaker.

I also recommend watching his follow-up appearance (Nov. 2018) for more info about his biography, oeuvre, and opinion regarding the national debt.

Mr. Speaker = 160,000 words.

I need to reread this book in order to distill it. I'll reread it after I read Grant's latest book, Bagehot (Sept. 2019).

Here's an interesting excerpt from Mr. Speaker (pp. 236-240)

As the train bearing Reed and his party sped west from Chicago in the summer of 1887, a spectacular property boom was burning itself out in southern California and the Great Plains. In Los Angeles, the average price of a business lot had jumped to $5,000 from $500 in only 12 months. In Wichita, according to the historian John D. Hicks, “A clerk who put his $200 into a lot sold it two months later for $2,000. A barber who dabbled in real estate made $7,000. Real estate agents, many of whom made much larger fortunes, swarmed over the place by the hundreds; they were so numerous that the city derived a considerable revenue from the license fees they had to pay.”

Mortgage debt was on the rise throughout the United States. From 1880 to 1889, the value of cumulative mortgage transactions reached $9.5 billion, up 156 percent from the previous 10 years. In comparison, population grew by a quarter and wealth by a half. In other words, observed a senior official of the Census Bureau, “real estate mortgage debt increased proportionately about three times more than wealth and about six times more than population.” “Subprime mortgage” was a phrase for the future, but the lenders and borrowers of Reed’s day anticipated the excesses of a later time even without their descendants’ specialized vocabulary or their evolved financial and regulatory systems. Reed himself, an investor in land in Holt County, Nebraska, was a loser in the speculative collapse of the early 1890s.

For a proper bubble, the prerequisites are a compelling story and a ready source of finance, and these the western land markets had in spades. The story seemed to write itself: The frontier was vanishing, and land, long cheap, would soon become dear. Advertisements promised would-be emigrants to the Plains and Dakotas rich soil, easy mortgage lending terms, big crops and—of all things—salubrious weather. The weather was indeed a pleasant surprise in Kansas and Nebraska. Eighteen to twenty inches of rainfall was necessary to make a good crop, and this quota was annually met in the early and mid-1880s, even in the normally arid western portions of the states. Old-timers scratched their heads: What could explain the anomalous succession of wet seasons? Human activity, some authorities reasoned: By breaking sod, irrigating crops and planting trees, the settlers had effected a kind of benign climate change. A professor at the University of Nebraska lent his authority to this pleasing hypothesis.

Mortgage money was available on terms that a 21st century borrower might find hauntingly familiar. Thus, for instance, the Union Pacific lent up to 90 percent of the value of the property at 7 percent over an 11-year term, with no principal amortization until the fourth year; for the first three years, the borrower paid interest only. Loans were available for the asking, though it was not always strictly necessary to make a formal application. The loan companies would come knocking at the farmhouse door.

American savers (and some foreign capitalists) were in the throes of a great yield hunger. Interest rates had peaked with the war-induced inflation of the 1860s. By the mid-1880s, New Englanders were earning just 4 percent at the bank and slightly less on high-grade railroad bonds. Inasmuch as the cost of living was actually falling (down by an average of 0.50 percent a year in the 1880s), a modern-day economist would judge that inflation-adjusted, or “real,” interest rates were generous. But western mortgages, yielding 6 to 8 percent, were still more generous. Loans secured by livestock, farm implements and rolling stock—so-called chattel mortgages—fetched 10 percent and up. To the objection that nothing is actually free in investing and that pioneer agriculture is inherently risky, the promoters smilingly pointed to the good crops and high prices of recent seasons. Why should they not persist? And again to quote Hicks, “The mortgage notes themselves, ‘gorgeous with gold and green ink,’ looked the part of stability, and the idea spread throughout the East that savings placed in this class of investments were as safe as they were remunerative. Small wonder that money descended like a flood upon those who made it their business to place loans in the West!”

Back east, bank regulators urged the smitten depositors to go slow. “Eastern states found it necessary to pass laws for the examining and licensing of western investment companies in order to protect individuals who were being induced to withdraw their deposits from savings banks and invest them in western securities,” relates the historian Hallie Farmer. A lot of good it did: “Competition existed not between borrowers but between lenders. ‘I found drafts, money orders and currency heaped on my desk every morning,’ said the secretary of a western loan company. ‘I could not loan the money as fast as it came in.’ The manager of another company stated that ‘during many months of 1886 and 1887 we were unable to get enough mortgages for the people of the East who wished to invest in that kind of security. My desk was piled high every morning with hundreds of letters each enclosing a draft and asking me to send a farm mortgage from Kansas or Nebraska.’”

Presently, the demand for lendable funds rose to meet the generous supply. No self-respecting town wanted to be without its streetcar line, jail, school or—especially—railroad junction. “Confidence was high,” recounts Farmer, “money was easy to obtain and the West entered upon such an orgy of railroad building as the world had never seen before. Old companies extended their lines. New companies were organized. Within six weeks in the spring of 1887, the Northwestern Railroader recorded the incorporation of 16 new railroad companies and the letting of contracts for work on 13 new branches of old roads. Kansas more than doubled her railroad mileage between 1880 and 1887. That of Nebraska was quadrupled and Dakota had 11 times the mileage in 1890 which she had in 1880.” And when, as sometimes happened at around this time, the railroad magnates fell to cutthroat competition, the traveling public was the winner. At the peak of the price wars of 1886, the fare between Kansas City and Los Angeles on the Santa Fe Railroad cost exactly $1.

Frontier standards of due diligence in the 1880s proved little better than the big-city kind 120 years later. “Securities which could not have been sold in ordinary times found a ready market,” according to Farmer. “Bonds of Capitola Township, Spink County, Dakota, were sold in this period and changed hands many times in eastern markets before it was discovered that no such township existed.”

None could doubt the existence of Los Angeles. Settlers by the thousands saw the place for themselves, and they watched the levitation of its real estate values. By 1885, Isaias Hellman, president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and leader of the boomtown’s banking community, had decided that a good thing had gone far enough. Against the ever-present temptation to run with the herd (especially if the herd seemed to be running in the direction of money), Hellman ordered his bank to restrict its lending. And in the fall of 1887, he announced that the Farmers and Merchants would have nothing more to do with the speculative bubble. Hellman’s example was evidently a powerful one, for at that critical juncture less than half the assets of the Los Angeles banking community were out on loan. Within six months, only a quarter were. It was thanks to the restraining influence of the bankers, notably Hellman, that the southern California economy did not burst along with the local property bubble. But rare, then as now, is the financier of detached and sober judgment. More common in 1887 was the attitude of the editor of the Nebraska State Journal, who protested that there was nothing like a bubble in property prices in Nebraska or Kansas. “It is simply,” he asserted, “the effect of the exhaustion of the public lands and the prosperity of the trans-Missouri region.”

That prosperity was then receding. The alleged new era of man-made moisture ended in 1887 and a persistent drought began. Grain prices peaked; by 1890, the price of a bushel of corn was 28 cents; it had been 63 cents in 1881. Lending dried up with the moisture. In the years 1884 to 1887, 6,000 farm mortgages, in the sum of $5.5 million, were written in Nebraska, Farmer relates. “In the next three years, only 500 such mortgages were placed with a total value of $633,889.... Eastern investors refused to place more money in the West and much of the money already invested was withdrawn as the lenders became frightened over the agitation of the debtors for relief in the form of stay laws.”

The available data suggest, if anything, that the citizens of Kansas borrowed not recklessly but in moderation. Mortgage debt was just 26.8 percent of the value of Kansas real estate, according to estimates compiled by the 1890 census-takers. Per capita private debt, counting only adults, amounted to $347. However, those statistics paint a misleadingly conservative picture. Per capita indebtedness in Kansas, for instance, was four times the national average. And though just 60 percent of the taxed acres in the state were encumbered by mortgage debt, that was the highest such proportion in the union. Then too, any debt is oppressive in the absence of income with which to service it, and such was the plight of the drought-stricken Jayhawk farmers. By 1892, half the population of western Kansas had trekked back east. On some of the wagons that bore what remained of the settlers’ possessions, there was emblazoned the motto “In God we trusted, in Kansas we busted.” To this portion of the American electorate, the tariff battle seemed rather an abstraction.

Note to self: retrieve & read:

Hallie Farmer, “The Economic Background of Frontier Populism,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 10, no. 4 (March 1924), 411.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some good tidbits in here but I think that just as Reed could have benefited from a better portrait artist, he could also have benefited from a better biographer. I think there were lots of interesting aspects to Reed's life but they felt a bit lifeless in this book and it was hard to be engaged.

[Arminius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas B. Reed served two separate terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He served as Speaker during the presidencies of Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. Ironically he resembled President Cleveland being a little bit larger in physical stature with a 6 feet tall 300 pounds frame.

Reed was born and raised in the state of Maine. He attended Bowdoin College, earned a law degree and served in the Navy during the Civil war. He was very bright with an incredible wit. He used this attributes to win an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the year 1868.
He served as a mentor to future President Theodore Roosevelt. He also appointed future president and political rival William McKinley to the powerful chairmanship of the Ways and Means committee. This is where McKinley made his name with his tariff legislation.

Reed was a protectionist meaning that he favored tariffs. His overriding philosophy was that the majority ruled. If the majority wanted it, it should be granted.

His was known for increasing the power of the Speakership. He eliminated a common parliamentarian obstructionist tactic known as the disappearing quorum(the minimum number of members present to allow a vote). The disappearing quorum is where house members knowing their side would lose would not show up for the vote. At the time all 166 house members had to be present to have a quorum. So the simple act of not showing up prevented a bill from passing. Speaker Reed combated this by reading a roll call of names not present and telling the Clerk to count each name as present. He turned this procedure in to what was called the Reed Rule. The Reed rule allowed house members who were not present to be counted as present. He also reduced the minimum number required to be present to form a quorum to 100.

Some of his views included being a proponent for women’s suffrage, a supporter of high tariffs to protect American Industry, an opponent of the Spanish American War and annexation of Hawaii.

Reed retired from politics in 1899. Soon after his retirement, his mentee Theodore Roosevelt ascended to the presidency. In political retirement, Reed obtained a lucrative job at the Wall Street law firm Simpson, Thacher & Barnum. There he made over $50,000 (over $1.2 million in today’s dollars) in earnings. For those who think that politicians just live off the public dole take a look at Speaker Reed’s example. He chose a role in government despite having the skills to earn much more money in the private sector. He died as one of the greatest unrecognized political forces in American history in 1902.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember first encountering Thomas Reed in Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower. At that time, alas, there didn't seem to be a biography of him in print, but he lingered in the back of my mind. This book remedies that lack.

Reed was twice Speaker of the House during the 'Gilded Age' before resigning his office in protest against the rising American imperialism that led to the Spanish-American war. He was a dark horse candidate for the presidency, and, as the subtitle notes, he was the man who ended the House practice of the 'filibuster'. The House filibuster differed from the Senate filibuster in that the House filibuster apparently refers to the practice of House members refusing to acknowledge their presence, thereby denying the House the needed quorum to conduct business.

House politics of this era was enormously complex in other respects as well: this was a time of contested elections, and monetary policy (i.e., 'free silver') was hotly argued subject. I have to admit that I got rather bogged down in all the political minutiae.

While I appreciated finally having a biography of Reed, for my taste, it fell short. While much was made in the book of Reed's wit, there were all too few examples. (Of course, it may just be a case of much of it being too topical to be appreciated without additional explanation.) Still, it was a worthwhile read.

And, I notice that 'Reed's Parliamentary Rules' are still in print.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cut it one-third and it would be better. Cut that another one-third and add some new stuff and it would be better yet.

James Grant, founder of Grant's Interest Rate Review, adds little to any in-depth understanding of one of our seminal Speakers of the House, Thomas B. "Czar" Reed.

He DOES, though, take the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893 to repeatedly give discourses on monetarism, the gold standard, bimetallism, etc., almost as if he were a kinder, gentler, more academic Ron Paul speaking to the world of today.

Beyond that, Grant buys the "historical party line" on McKinley, a McKinley who in reality was looking to annex the Philippines from the time of his inauguration.

I wasn't thoroughly disappointed, but, I wasn't much more than that, either.

Reed needs a better, more comprehensive account than this, and one that looks at this history of his times in their own right, rather than a cheap didactic sounding board.

[Bart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Modern economic zealotry masquerading as history. Very poor form.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As at least one renowned historian has commented, one studying presidents can come to the conclusion that only presidents matter, only they drive history, but that is not true. Many other figures, even those overlooked in popular history, play major roles. One such figure is Thomas B. Reed.

Reed was a giant of a man, literally and figuratively, from Portland, Maine. A Phi Beta Kappa alumnus of Bowdoin College, he chose to remain at Boys High School in Portland when President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers came in 1861. He then pursued legal studies and migrated to California before returning east in 1864 an accepting a commission in the U. S. Navy. He described his service as acting assistant paymaster aboard the U. S. Sybil in the Mississippi Squadron as “the most delightful time of my life.”

With the return of peace, Reed often-intertwined careers of law and politics. A career legislator, at the state level Reed unsuccessfully opposed the death penalty and took pride in guiding reform of the Maine court system. He practiced his law in the office of Attorney General of Maine and private practice before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1876 remaining until his resignation in 1899. His career was eventful as evidenced by his service as Speaker of the House for three congresses between 1889 and 1899.

Reed qualifies for the status of driver of history through the crucial issues which he confronted and shaped during his tenure and the principled stands he maintained. Though his naval service was minimal, as Chairman of the Judiciary he cleaned up a lingering Civil War issue by guiding the distribution of the funds derived from settlement of claims against Great Britain arising out the Confederate raider Alabama. Prominent among other issues he confronted were the late nineteenth century causes, the tariff, protective or low, and currency, based on the gold standard or the bimetallic coinage of gold and silver.

Reed’s most impactful, and currently relevant initiative, was in parliamentary procedure. In his day, minorities could stymie legislation by not voting or responding, thereby preventing a quorum, or proposing endless amendments and debate. Reed was the speaker who, through accepted practice and changes to the rules, drove the filibuster from the House and streamlined its practice into a more efficient body than it had been.

Reed’s ultimate challenge came in the form of the Spanish American War. Though opposed to annexation of islands taken in that war, his position as speaker imposed an obligation to support the McKinley administration. Realizing that “had I stayed I must have been as Speaker always in a false position in aiding and organizing things in which I did not believe or using power against those who gave it to me” he knew it was time to leave and he left.

Through this tome I came to a greater realization of the importance of the gold-silver issue through the latter nineteenth century. I had read about the debate over sound money, favored by lenders, and inflation, favored by debtors, but this book highlights how important it was. After reading I went and just looked at my silver dollars with a new appreciation for how controversial they were.

Author James Grant has crafted a very readable biography of an overlooked nineteenth statesman and illustrates why his life should be studied today.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas B. Reed (1839-1902)is sadly one of those forgotten figures of the 19th century who made the
House of Representatives function as it does today. In his day with new states being admitted, 6 during his time as Speaker the House was taking the form it has now. But it was an unwieldy and
cumbersome body to deal with.

Reed was born in Maine and was the very caricature of down home wit and wisdom. He went to
Bowdoin College in his home state and graduated in 1860. During the Civil War he served in the
Navy and was at the siege at Vicksburg. After the war Reed became a lawyer and served in the Maine
legislature and also as Attorney General for the state. He was first elected to the House of Representatives.

Reed was a big guy, over 6 feet tall and weighing close to 300 pounds and with a sharp wit made his
opinions and will known. He was earmarked for leadership from the beginning when as a freshman Representative his time as a prosecutor in Maine stood him in good stead when he was
put on the special committee investigating the 1876 presidential election. Reed was devastating in
his examination of former Democratic presidential candidate Samuel Jay Tilden. He was definitely
earmarked for leadership.

It came in 1889 when the Republicans took over the House and made him Speaker. One of the
most famous scenes in the House took place in 1889 as Reed with force and wit rammed through a
change in House parliamentary rules. Known as Reed's Rules this is how the House operates to
this day.

Reed could be devastating. When some pompous Democrat quoted that line that Henry Clay said
about rather being right than president Reed informed him he would be neither. When asked about
his chances of being president Reed said his party could do worse and probably would. The House
was never a dull place with him in the Speaker's chair.

Reed never forgot the reason the Republican Party came into existence and made a last ditch attempt to get a civil rights law passed in 1893. It was sponsored by his friend and supporter Henry Cabot Lodge. It passed the House, but died in the Senate.

Reed served as Speaker from 1889-1891 and from 1895-1899. In 1896 he was a candidate for president, but was defeated for the nomination by William McKinley.

The Spanish-American War caused Reed to do something truly unique among politicians. He did
not like the imperial direction the country and his party was taking. So he resigned and gave up
politics. He moved from Maine to New York City and practiced corporate law until he died rather
suddenly.

A unique and colorful character was Thomas Brackett Reed. We could use a few more like him today.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became aware of the fascinating political career of Thomas Reed via Barbara Tuchman’s “The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914” (1966). I immediately searched around for a biography of this larger-than-life Speaker of the House. Alas, I could not find one. I should have been more patient – James Grant published his Reed biography about a month after I read Proud Tower.

Grant’s portrayal did not disappoint. To get my worst criticism out of the way, bits of the writing here and there are a bit clumsy, causing me to backtrack and re-read a couple of paragraphs. But overall, this is a fascinating, largely well-written, portrait of a changing country, and the role that one man—lawyer, Civil War officer, state senator, state attorney general, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and finally Speaker of the House (1895-1899; 1889-1891), among other roles—played in those years. Reed was a powerful, early-Progressive politician who had a lasting effect on the US House, forcing rule changes that would make it a more powerful and decisive branch of government. Grant covers a lot of ground here. If you are seriously interested in U.S. history, especially during the period where we were transitioning from a rural backwater to a world leading power (including the growth of our disturbing role as empirical colonizer), this is a must read. Why this man is not better known today is probably the result of politicking by his enemies, of which he made many. As a bonus, this is a good study as to how little Washington politics has changed in the last 130 years – different names, different party divisions, sure, but the same nonsense. In the words of Speaker Reed: A Statesman is a successful politician who is dead.”

[PyranopterinMo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best history book for the year unless I hit the jackpot again.
I have a much better understanding of issues that confounded me about the gilded age, 1865- 1900; the issue of free silver, bimetalism, vs. the gold standard, the severe economic depressions, the issues with America's tarrifs and the difficulty in changeing the tax laws, about how congress didn't work and about contested elections. I even learned something about the origins of the temperance movement and women's suffrage. I learned much more about Democrats vs. Republicans. More about Presidents McKinley and Garfield and even Harrison.
Glad I decided to look for a hardcover at the library and that the library kept this book for 10+ years- the date that the library shelved it is June, 2011.
I am not convinced that Reed was interesting but I agree a biography is a good way to work around a boring title for a less than interesting historical period. I read another book about the Gilded age and it was meh.

[D Crook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. The author was very good at telling the story of a legislator, which in my opinion is an almost impossible task. While providing significant detail surrounding the reasons why a proposed bill was, at that moment in history, controversial, the author was able to skillfully describe Thomas Reed's personality juxtaposed against the other legislators and prominent political leaders of the time.

While I enjoyed the storytelling, the author's style was a bit stilted at times. I found myself re-reading sentences frequently to get past the "verbal static" created by the author's sometimes unorthodox sentence structure and word selection. However, for the most part, I found the book engaging and interesting.

[Adam Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably should be one and half stars, but since you can't do that here, I'll be generous. Mr. Grant has a semi-easy to read style, but everything else is a mess. Interesting story, but he jumps around time in chapters, without making it clear when he is talking about, like starting off a chapter about say 1884, but then covering events in 1882-3 first.(just to give an off the top of my head example). Decent, but not overwhelming research, and his CONSTANT commentary on how "evil"(my quotes) taxes and duties are.

[Bj · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about the 19th century Speaker of the House. A very detailed account of the 1876 presidential election, the end of Reconstruction. Also a good education about the rules of Congress and power of individuals. A nice surprise.

[M C]

Ebook. Very good about a forgotten politician

[Craig Adamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed in Barron's 9-5-2011. Written by James Grant (of Grant's Interest Rate Observer fame).

Although I was excited about the author, I was disappointed in the book overall. It was not as engaging as I had hoped. There was not as much humor in the book as I'd anticipated based on Thomas Reed's renowned wit.

What the book did delve into quite a bit was procedure and the intricacies of floor debates and rules in the US House. Reed's claim to fame was breaking the filibuster through various maneuverings. In many ways, he is a hero. While Teddy Roosevelt commented that Reed's abilities allowed Congress to do more... both good and bad, it was better than the constant back and forth with no result at the end of the day.

I may come back and read this again one day in the hopes I will find it more compelling. But based on this reading, I will likely filibuster that effort by reading many, many other books in the meantime.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

One critic called Thomas Reed "the most fascinating politician you've never heard of", which is actually a seriously qualifying statement, because if a politician truly was all that fascinating, you probably WOULD HAVE heard of him. Much of this book is devoted to rules of order, Congressional administrative procedures, and endless debate on bi-metallism and the gold standard. I actually find the Gilded Age a very interesting period in American history, but as this book proves, all that is gilded is not necessarily gold. (What keeps this book at a solid 3 stars for me: it's nice to look back at a time when Congress was about getting things done - and by Republicans, no less!)

[Robert Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Grant does a nice job to make two challenging topics - monetary economics and House parliamentary procedure - easy to understand, as well as relevant for the period being covered and the present day. Speaker Reed sought and achieved a higher level of functionality out of Congress at a time when it was needed. If you think today's government is dysfunctional, you will find that there is a pattern to this craziness throughout our history.

[Brandon Shultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great read for anyone interested in turn of the century politics. It goes through the major policy debates of the 1880-1890s including the many debates that started well before hand and were decided during the partisan era of American politics. It displays guilded age politics in a true form and shows the partisan arguments that helped establish policy debates that went on for years in the future.

[Lauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out interesting but far too bogged down in detail for the casual political/history reader.

[Robert B. B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://greasedpig.blogspot.com/2012/0...

[Bradley America · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as raucous as it was made out to be

[Gerry Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Mr Speaker, James Grant has written an admirable bio of Thomas Reed GOP leader and Speaker of the House in the Gilded Age. He broke dilatory tactics on the floor and opposed US imperialism

[Suzanne Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, yeah, so I learned something. But the pix of old-timey facial whiskers are the best part of this book.

[Skowheganme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book about politics and the influential Speaker from Maine. Kinda dry and long. A book you could put down.