The only president that I have read a multi-volume biography of so far is Franklin Pierce, but now I starts on a three-volume biography of Benjamin Harrison. I can't say that they would have been the ones I expected to read multi-volumes of, but the field of available biographies can get a little sparse. This one was published in 1952, and I will admit that I have very much enjoyed the mid-century biographies I have read. This one is pretty upbeat, and I found it read smoothly and serves as a well-researched bit of writing; there is a lot of correspondence and other first hand accounts in the narrative, which I did find at times a little boring - toward the end of the book there is almost two pages of a letter from Harrison to his wife, and the flowery language of the 1860s is not particularly pleasant to read today. I think Sievers could have benefited from being a little more picky about what and how much to quote.

The whole book reads as relatively upbeat, and has enough of a driving narrative not to get bogged down anywhere. I like thorough biographies, and while I think at times this one might even be a little TOO thorough (it reminds me a little of Ketcham's Madison in that regard) it satisfied all of my requirements when it comes to biographies of a president's early life. And to be honest, I grew to like Harrison quite a bit, and I think we learned a lot about his character and personality.

The only major problem I had was that the focus on Harrison's place in the war was so singularly focused on that sometimes it was hard to know exactly what his unit was doing in relation to the entire war; I am relatively familiar with the war, but would have appreciated a mention of where Harrison was when Vicksburg fell or when Gettysburg happened, just as context for everything else that happened. Harrison is one of the more involved Civil War veteran presidents - Cleveland hired a substitute. Garfield and Hayes both saw significant action - as did McKinley (the only one to start as an enlisted soldier). I haven't read a Mckinley bio yet, but Neither Hayes nor Garfield were as studious about war as Harrison, who gave himself so wholly to the study of tactics that he could have taught it.

Harrison is presented as a sentimental, hardworking (and often overworking) man, and one who served gallantly in defense of his nation. The next book covers the 23 years between being mustered out and his ascendance to the presidency, "his maturity" as Sievers says in Volume 2's opening pages. I would definitely recommend this book for people interest in presidential and civil war related biographies; it is sometimes unnecessarily long-winded, but it more than makes up for its flaws with solid scholarship, copious quotations, and clear writing.