From Canal Boy To President Or The Boyhood And Manhood Of James A Garfield

From Canal Boy to President Or the Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield is a biography by Horatio Alger Jr. Garfield was the 20th president of the United States, lawyer and Civil War military officer who suffered assassination in 1881.

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From Canal Boy to President; or, The Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Alger's name is often invoked incorrectly as though he himself rose from rags to riches, but that arc applied to his characters, not to the author. Essentially, all of Alger's novels share the same theme: a young boy struggles through hard work to escape poverty. Critics, however, are quick to point out that it is not the hard work itself that rescues the boy from his fate, but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty, which brings him into contact with a wealthy elder gentleman, who takes the boy in as a ward. The boy might return a large sum of money that was lost or rescue someone from an overturned carriage, bringing the boy—and his plight—to the attention of some wealthy individual. It has been suggested that this reflects Alger's own patronizing attitude to the boys he tried to help.

Horatio Alger Jr. was a prolific American author in the 19th century. Alger's books were noted for the type of "rags to riches" narrative that were common with the Gilded Age in America. From Canal Boy to President is a classic fictional biography of James Garfield, the 20th president of the United States.