Destiny of the Republic A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

About the book

The extraordinary "New York Times"-bestselling account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from bestselling author of "The River of Doubt," Candice Millard. For a man forced into the presidency, the legacy of James Garfield extended far beyond his lifetime, and "Destiny of the Republic" revisits his meteoric rise within the military and government with meticulous research and intimate focus. Garfield was a passionate advocate of freed slaves, a reformer at odds with Republican power brokers and machine politics, a devoted father, and a spellbinding speech-giver. Four months after taking office he was shot twice by an unhinged office-seeker, Charles Guiteau, and a nation already recently fractured by war shattered, leaving the wounded president at the center of a bitter, behind-the-scenes struggle for power. Examining the medical reform spurred by Garfield's unsanitary medical treatment, and reflecting on the surprising political reform brought on by his former political enemy Senator Roscoe Conkling, "Destiny of the Republic" passionately brings President Garfield's unknown-but-widely-felt legacy into focus.