There were a lot of interesting tidbits. One, McKinley was the first president to ride in an automobile. I also didn't realize how much he conducted his presidential work from his Canton home. Another interesting tidbit -and I wonder if this is still done? - is that the hulls of navy ships are painted gray in times of war, and white in times of peace. I wonder how that tradition started.
Besides McKinley and Czolgosz, Miller's book also gives a lot of page time to Theodore Roosevelt, whose brash antics won him both acclaim and criticism; Emma Goldman, a prominent figure in the anarchist movement - some of her ideas would be radical today; and many others from the war abroad and the conflict at home.
The novel is easy to read and follow, and is written with a lively voice. One section that stood out was the description on how the United States took Guam; I laughed out loud at that passage. I finished the novel quickly, and was always reluctant to put it down.
