John Hay, Friend of Giants

Now, perhaps, only those enmeshed in 19th-century American history know his name; but when John Hay died in 1905, he was one of the most famous men in the world. And one of the most highly regarded. Abraham Lincoln's private secretary during the Civil War, thereafter as a popular poet, novelist, newspaper editor, highly esteemed historian and biographer, diplomat, businessman, and secretary of state until his death, Hay enjoyed remarkable success in public and private life. In John Hay, Friend of Giants, Philip McFarland presents both the intimate story of Hay's relationship with four prominent figures of his age and an insightful history of the United States from the 1850s to the turn of the century. Hay's life and extraordinary friendships provide a window into the politics, literature, society, and diplomacy of this remarkable era of American expansion.

Philip McFarland is the author of five earlier works of nonfiction: Sojourners, Sea Dangers: The Affair of the Somers, The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, and the Coming of the American Revolution, Hawthorne in Concord, and Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He has also published two works of fiction.

CONTENTS
Prologue: John Hay, 1838-1905
1. Hay and Abraham Lincoln: the 1860s
1. Rising Politician
2. A Poet in Exile
3. From Springfield to Washington D.C.
4. Inauguration
5. Wartime
6. Domestic Matters
7. "What a Man He Is!"
8. Peace Overture
9. April, 1865
10. From Washington D.C. to Springfield
2. Hay and Mark Twain: the 1870s
11. Livelihood in the East
12. Hay Overseas
13. The Quaker City
14. Poet and Journalist
15. Wedding in Elmira
16. John Hay Marries
17. The Gilded Age
18. Summer, 1877
19. "My Friendship with Mr. Hay"
20. Mark Twain's Midas Touch
3. Hay and Henry James: the 1880s
21. Apprenticeship of an Author
22. Journalist in Paris
23. Big Job Well Begun
24. Hay Writes a Novel
25. "The Art of Fiction"
26. Capturing Reality, 1885
27. Nicolay and Hay
28. The Five of Hearts
29. Elevating Lincoln
30. James and the Theater
4. Hay and Theodore Roosevelt: the 1890s
31. A Commonplace Childhood?
32. Tragedies and Consequences
33. Hay Discontented
34. The Uses of Wealth
35. Degradation and Reform
36. "You Might Do Worse than Select Me."
37. Cuba, 1898
38. The Beneficent Work of the World
39. Family Griefs
40. The Thought of My Life Ending
Epilogue: 1905 - 1919
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX