While it would seem a clear-cut task, Millard broadens the story to include a few additional individuals, whose actions play a key role in better understanding events surrounding the president’s lingering before finally succumbing in September 1881. But I wasn’t enthralled with how the pieces of the book came together or with the limited reflections on the big picture. A near drowning while he labored on the Erie and Ohio Canal convinced him that God “had saved me for my mother and for something greater and better than canalling,” he wrote. For the next few years, he worked his way up through local schools and Williams College; at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College), a preparatory school, he mastered his studies so thoroughly that he was promoted from janitor to assistant professor. Millard’s focus on medical malpractice also diverts attention from other compelling facets of Garfield’s life such as his final political battle with New York Republican party boss Roscoe Conkling – a scoundrel so perfectly nefarious that he deserves his own best-selling biography. I loved that we get a glimpse of his influence and profundity. Among those present were Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Lister. But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. Erie, PA 16507, Phone: (814) 454-1813 But a few points were less compelling and harder to get through. A little known in a long line of forgettable names to occupy the office during the last half of the 19th Century. Dr. What drew me into Destiny of the Republic was a PBS Special that aired not too long ago. Reading the Presidents: POTUS #20 – James Garfield. Come on, admit it. On the morning of July 2, 1881, the president of the United States burst into the room of his teenage sons and picked one up under each arm, swinging them about as he sang a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand . And as an added bonus she often provides excellent historical context (political, scientific and cultural) which provides the reader an excellent “feel” for the era. We meet politicians, doctors, family, and dear friends. This is the kind of book you carry around just so people see you reading it. When the ballots were cast and Garfield won the presidency—something that Millard describes as being a prize Garfield accepted without much fanfare—Guiteau began an eerie communication with the president-elect, first congratulating him and then stalking him for a posting in the new government. Submission Guidelines, © 1996-2020 BookPage and ProMotion, inc. | 2143 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. He could have reformed more and influenced more and changed more. Garfield’s medical “care” is one of the most fascinating, if appalling, parts of Millard’s narrative. This well-written and tragic story has been revised and can now be found in a place of honor at, In an interesting, quasi-biographical piece, Candice Millard explores the brief presidency of James A. Garfield and the assassination attempt that would eventually take his life. ANYTHING with historical content is on my favorites list. Destiny of the Republic is an excellent read – especially for someone like me, who rarely reads non-fiction and/or biographies. Excelling both in combat and as a top staff officer, he rose to the rank of major general during the Civil War but was sickened by the carnage of battle. Sixteen years after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the president of the United States still strolled around Washington on foot, unaccompanied by security. He didn’t deserve to die. Enter, Alexander Graham Bell, who had been thinking about how to use some of the technology surrounding his telephone to locate the bullet, which might aid in saving the life of President Garfield. Overview. But he didn’t. But very sad. And Millard makes the occasional mistake of exaggerating Garfield’s importance. I found it the medical version of a book called Issac’s Storm by Erik Larson, about Issac Cline who was the U.S. “Garfield would later tell a friend,” Millard writes, “that ‘something went out of him . While his presidency was too short for real achievement, his death did lead to civil service reform, crucial improvements in medicine and the perfection of Bell’s “induction balance” device. Suddenly, one delegate put forward Garfield’s name. A powerful speaker, Garfield was respected by his peers and was seen to be a sure winner when he faced his Democratic opponent in November. • James was taught to consider himself the equal of any man — to walk “with his shoulders squared and his head thrown back,” a trait he would always possess. He bought a .44 caliber revolver and soon determined assassination was his last hope; perhaps Chester Arthur would be more favorably inclined to appoint him he thought. . Bliss continued to probe the wound in the back, administer enemas of alcohol, egg yolk and broth. New York: Doubleday,  2011. As Millard illustrates, Guiteau was known around town as a swindler who would not pay his bills, though he was adamant that he should have a prominent role in the Garfield Administration, more because he was first to ask than meriting anything in particular.

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