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

Used. Paperback. Candice Millard rescues our twentieth president from historical obscurity in this gripping historical narrative about James A. Garfield, a man whose bright political promise met a darkly bizarre tragedy. You will meet a fascinating cast of characters—including a deranged assassin and a grieving Alexander Graham Bell frantically inventing a metal detector—all colliding in a bizarre chapter of American politics. Millard masterfully maps out the madness of nineteenth-century medicine, where doctors posed a far greater peril to the commander-in-chief than any bullet ever could. It is a wildly compelling cautionary tale proving that truth is not only stranger than fiction, but considerably more catastrophic.