“Think you’re not interested in James Garfield, our 20th President? Millard’s action-packed account of his life and truly strange death should change your mind.”

Millard takes all of these elements in a forgotten period of history and turns them into living and breathing things.” Takes the reader on a compelling fly on-the-wall journey.

“Brings the era and people involved to vivid life. Millard has written us a penetrating human tragedy.” “One of the many pleasures of Candice Millard’s new book, Destiny of the Republic, that she brings poor Garfield to life-and a remarkable life it was. Janet Maslin, Top 10 Recommendations for 2011 Garfield elected, the lunacy that got him shot and the medical malfeasance that turned a minor wound into a mortal one.' Millard digs deeply into the turmoil that got James A. 'Destiny of the Republic displays Millard's energetic writing and rare ability to effortlessly educate the listener.' Millard shows the Garfield legacy to be much more important than most of her readers knew it to be.' The haunting tale of how a man who never meant to seek the presidency found himself swept into the White House. Alexander Graham Bell makes a bravura appearance.” Candice Millard leaves us feeling that Garfield's assassination deprived the nation not only of a remarkably humble and intellectually gifted man but one who perhaps bore the seeds of greatness. “A spirited tale that intertwines murder, politics and medical mystery. A fresh narrative that plumbs some of the most dramatic days in U.S. history.ĭestiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a PresidentĪ New York Times Notable Book Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power-over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president.

The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt.

Destiny of the republic book review