13 h 59 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What will a candidate give up to win—and what must remain beyond the reach of ambition?
In The Candidate, Joseph A. Altsheler sets personal drama inside the American race for the presidency. Power is the prize, but principle is the test. This political romance brings ambition face to face with conscience, asking what a person can surrender in pursuit of office without losing what matters most.
The presidential campaign provides a stage for high stakes and strong feeling. Party leaders choose a nominee, newspapers praise or attack, and crowds cheer or turn away. Against this world of public judgment, Altsheler explores the tension between the desire to win and the need to hold firm—a struggle that reaches beyond politics.
What you’ll discover
- Ambition meets conscience Explore the uneasy ground between seeking power and keeping faith with personal principles.
- The presidency as prize Enter a national contest where public office gives personal choices a larger weight.
- A world of judgment Consider the pressure of newspapers, party leaders, and crowds that can cheer or turn away.
- Romance beyond courtship Discover the older sense of romance: adventure, high stakes, and strong feeling.
- The cost of winning Ask what victory means when the pursuit of power puts conscience under strain.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy American history, election campaigns and speeches, and anyone who likes a warm romance, a touch of mystery and a hero who wins people with kindness.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An unexpected nominee enters the race
- Harley meets someone he cannot outwit
- Financial support comes with expectations
- Sylvia carries a debt of gratitude
- Kindness reaches beyond the campaign platform
- Quick thinking answers danger and prejudice
- Grayson refuses the silence his backers demand
- Love cannot simply cancel a promise
- Honesty and kindness become political forces
Who’s who
- John HarleyA careful newspaper correspondent raised in the South and trained in New York, who follows Grayson across the country and slowly becomes his friend and adviser.
- James Madison GraysonThe young Western lawyer nominated for President, a gifted speaker who wins crowds by sincerity and wants to say what he truly believes.
- Sylvia MorganGrayson's quick-witted niece from Idaho, brave and teasing, who has promised to marry the man who saved her as a child.
- Anna GraysonThe candidate's quiet, observant wife, who gives political advice and tries gently to steer the lives of the young people around her.
- William PlummerKnown as King Plummer, a huge rancher and mining millionaire who rules mountain politics and wants Sylvia as his wife.
- ChurchillThe correspondent of the New York Monitor, who trusts European opinion, sneers at Western ways and sends warnings against the candidate.
- HobartA cheerful crime reporter filling in on the campaign, always hunting a mystery and fond of trouble.
- Clinton GoodnightA wealthy manufacturer and congressman who leads the party's financial wing and wants Grayson to stay silent on the tariff.
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The Candidate
by Joseph A. Altsheler · 1905
A young lawyer learns at midnight that he is the presidential nominee and later travels west with a reporter beside him.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What happens when a young lawyer from the far West learns in the middle of the night that he is the nominee for President of the United States? In The Candidate, a newspaper correspondent named Harley runs through the streets to be the first to tell him.
The Candidate at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 55 min6 h 15 min fast, 9 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 113,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1905by Joseph A. Altsheler
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dark horse wins the nomination overnight
Applause roars through an enormous convention hall after a fierce struggle. Grayson, a young lawyer with little more than a local name, has been chosen by his party. He wins because every better known man has a fault that someone can name, and nobody can find one in him.
Harley, a correspondent fresh from a war abroad, senses the result before it comes. At midnight he sprints through the streets, dodging a policeman who takes him for a pickpocket. In the hotel room, Grayson and his wife, Anna, know nothing. Harley asks what he would do if he were nominated, and Grayson says a wise public man never answers such questions. Harley says he must, because it has already happened. The candidate flushes, then goes white.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1905
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Altsheler, Joseph A. The Candidate. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-candidate.
Altsheler, J. A. (2026). The candidate. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-candidate (Original work published 1905)
Altsheler, Joseph A. The Candidate. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-candidate.
@book{altsheler2026candidate,
author = {Altsheler, Joseph A.},
title = {The Candidate},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-candidate},
note = {First published 1905}
}
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What is The Candidate by Joseph A. Altsheler about?
It follows a young Western lawyer, Jimmy Grayson, who is nominated for President by surprise, and a reporter named Harley who rides with him for five months. The story mixes speeches, adventures, party politics and a love story.
Who is King Plummer in The Candidate?
King Plummer is William Plummer, a big Idaho rancher and mining millionaire who controls many mountain votes. He rescued Sylvia Morgan as a child, raised her, and later asks her to marry him.
Is The Candidate a true story?
No, it is a novel. Altsheler set it in an American election that feels real, with trains, telegraph lines and mass rallies, but the people and events are imagined. It was written in the early twentieth century.
The author
Joseph A. Altsheler
1862–1919 · American historical novelist
Joseph Alexander Altsheler (1862–1919) was an American novelist and journalist. He was born in Kentucky and later lived in Louisville and New York City, where he died. He wrote historical fiction, including novels for young readers, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His books include The Border Watch.
More by Joseph A. Altsheler
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