Destiny of the Republic

Overview

James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back. But the shot didn't kill Garfield. The drama of what happened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in turmoil. 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. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. 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. 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.

Details

Publisher

Doubleday

Published

2011

Pages

339

Language

EN

Categories

Biography & Autobiography / Presidents & Heads of State, Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology, History / United States / General, History / United States / 19th Century, History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies), History / Social History, Social History, Medical / General, Medical / Instruments & Supplies, Political Science / General, Social Science / Sociology / Social Theory, True Crime / Murder / General

ISBN-13

9780385526265