September 26: The Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

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James A. Garfield
20th President of the United States
b. November 19, 1831
shot July 22, 1881
d. September 19, 1881

The Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
by Candice Millard
Doubleday

Candice Millard, in her second book of history, The Destiny of the Republic, exposes an elusive chapter in American history, telling a tale of a mad assassin and the medical mash-up that ended in the murder of a remarkable president, father, husband and friend.

Most of us think that James A. Garfield was shot and killed by an assassin. Gunned down in Washington DC’s Union Station by Charles Guiteau, a deranged narcissist, Garfield falls to the floor with the bullet lodged in his lower back. Guiteau is arrested and put on trial—the first case where the insanity plea was used. Garfield is taken to a team of doctors at the White House and, in Millard’s capable hands, the saga of “saving the life of a president” takes off like a straw house on fire. Garfield died, in his doctor’s care, two-and-a-half months after being shot.

Millard pulls several narrative strings together with great skill. First is Garfield’s story, that of a likeable and erudite man from Ohio who reluctantly becomes his party’s choice for president. Meanwhile, Guiteau, having proven a nuisance to the White House in a deluded quest to be named the Paris consulate, receives a divine message to kill the president for the good of the country.

Finally, Garfield’s ego-driven doctor futilely tries to locate the bullet by probing the president’s back with his fingers and allowing the infected areas to drain– ignoring the recent European discovery of the critical importance of anti-sepsis care.

Following on the success of her first book, River of Doubt, Millard once again tells a riveting story in The Destiny of the Republic.



Candice Millard’s website (Link)
Candice Millard on Twitter (Link)
Candice Millard on The Diane Rehm Show (Link)

The health and medical history of James A. Garfield (Link)