destiny of the republic by candice millard

It goes into detail about the schizo plottings of the crazed assassin, Guiteau (and some fascinating history of the 'insanity plea'). The book establishes the dignified character of Garfield, the high esteem the people had for him, his erudition, and his humanity. Now I have to say, Destiny of the Republic is even better, and I have a new picture of Garfield and wonder what might have been. Based on that read, I figured I had a winner. A book about Garfield would never have been tops on my Wish List, but I'd read Millard's first book, River of Doubt, (about Theodore Roosevelt's trip on the Amazon) and found it fascinating. I love to be blown away by a book!! I love that rare ocassion when you randomly pick up a book and hope it will at least hold your interest just until something else comes along, to listen half-heartedly, then-be drawn in thoroughly, completely-to the point where you forget everything around you and become so engrossed in the story that the house could be burning down around you and you wouldn't notice till your toes got hot! In the case of Destiny of the Republic, it isn't the history of 20th president James Garfield alone that catapults this book into the category of toe-toasting 'amazing'.it is the meticulous research and straightforward writing of former National Geographic writer and editor, Candice Millard-a truly great historian/author (and we could probably add detective). Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history. As his condition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect.

The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power-over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care.

The drama of what happened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in turmoil. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.īut the shot didn’t kill Garfield.

Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Garfield may have been the most extraordinary man ever elected president.

Destiny of the republic by candice millard