An Unofficial 'The MeatEater Podcast' Reading List
601. Scandal in the White House
September 17, 2025
Description
Books Referenced
Author: Wilkie Collins
Context:
Referenced as an example of Victorian sensation fiction that the Cleveland scandal story resembles, particularly noting elements like stolen babies and grotesquely fat villains
Author: Wilkie Collins
Context:
Referenced as an example of Victorian sensation fiction, particularly compared to the Cleveland story because it features a widow imprisoned in a lunatic asylum and a villain whose salient feature is being very fat (Count Fosco)
Author: Charles Lackman
Context:
Mentioned as a book that goes into great detail about the Maria Halpin scandal and Cleveland's involvement, including testimony from witnesses like Minnie Kendall
Author: Troy Sennick
Context:
Described as the most recent biography of Cleveland, published in 2022. The book argues that Cleveland was likely framed by partisan Republicans and examines the evidence of the scandal. The author is noted as a former speechwriter for George W. Bush
Author: Alan Nevins
Context:
Referenced as the canonical Cleveland biographer for much of the 20th century, a distinguished professor at Columbia University who won the Pulitzer Prize. His biography is described as one of those vast American presidential biographies thousands of pages long, and he concluded the scandal was pure Republican scandal-mongering