Bad History

Matthew Algeo. The President Is a Sick Man. Chicago Review Press. (2011)

The author has a good grasp of the story but that is all. From a technical standpoint, the complete and utter lack of footnotes compromises irreparably the value of this work. He understands the complexity of the health issues but as to the political, economic, and historical issues he is, like the surgery he describes, "at sea."
Politically, Algeo does not comprehend the mood of the era. In the wake of the death of President Grant, Cleveland and his advisers deemed it was better to do this in secret, away from the public eye. Like Louis in Casablanca, the author is shocked to discover that a government would do this sort of thing.
Economically, he understands the issues of the Depression of 1893 only in part. He does not realize, or fails to acknowledge, the downside of the pro-Silver argument which colors his interpretation of the President's response to the crisis.
Historically, Algeo has only a vague familiarity with the history of presidential illness, mentioning the usual suspects: Washington, Jackson. Wilson, FDR. He lauds the Roosevelt cover-up, does not mention Eisenhower, Kennedy, or Johnson, but excoriates Reagan.
For a better reading of presidential illness, one should turn to Ferrell's Ill-advised. As for Grover Cleveland, Jeffers' An Honest Man is still the better choice.