The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. GreenbergerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
All in all a very good book about a not very good person (turned better later on).
Having been brought up by an ardent abolitionist, and then having left the fold for the more profit-seeking clique of stalwarts and politicians who took "voluntary" payments from employees and bestowed offices as favors, he found himself pretty much by accident as a vice president. And then Garfield was shot by a lunatic, and he found himself president. But at that point he changed, left his crony friends behind and enacted reform to make political positions more merit-based, etc.
Aside from that turn-about, there isn't much that is fascinating about this man's life. In fact, the book talks at great length about other big names of the era, namely Roscoe Conkling, President Grant and President Garfield. It takes 2/3 of the book for Arthur to even become president.
I found the most intriguing bit to be the part about Julia Sand. I think every president could use someone like her.
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