Something of Men I Have Known

Adlai E. Stevenson looks back on public life through the people he knew, bringing together personal recollections and papers on American politics and history. His account begins with the country's changes between his first election to Congress in 1874 and his retirement from the vice presidency in 1897. He then turns to an earlier Illinois legal world, describing Abraham Lincoln's circuit practice, Judge David Davis and lawyers who travelled between county courts on horseback.

The contents range from the House of Representatives and the Senate to Cleveland, political oratory and anecdotes of lawyers. A historical section examines the disputes surrounding Joseph Smith and the Mormon community in Illinois, including competing claims within the church and the breakdown of public order. These shifts between remembered encounters and broader events give readers a personal route into nineteenth-century American government, regional history and the habits of its public figures.