Which was the worst presidential campaign in American history, from the viewpoint of the winning candidate?  How about 1880, when the bad blood and infighting got so intense that the new president was shot in the back four months into his term by a follower of a rival faction in his own party — in an argument over patronage jobs?



Today, on the eve of what promises to be a rocky, ugly 2012 political year, we proudly announce the new Viral History Press LLC edition of DARK HORSE: The Surprise Election and Politicial Murder of President James A. Garfield.


For this year, it is exclusively at Amazon.com.  

Check out possible savings here.

James Garfield’s 1880 “dark horse” nomination for president after the longest-ever Republican convention (36 ballots), his victory in the closest-ever presidential popular vote, his struggle with feuding factions once elected, and its climax of violence, all produced one of the most dramatic presidential odysseys of the Gilded Age. The era’s decency is seen contrasted against sharp and bitter partisanship, hauntingly familiar to modern America. But in this case, it ended in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau.


Featured on C-SPAN’s “Booknotes” and NPR’s “All Things Considered” when first released in 2003, DARK HORSE has since become a true underground classic in political circles.


Now we are making it available again. You can read the story yourself and share it with your politico friends.