James Abram 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, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation’s corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield’s inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. 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. 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. history.
Description
You may wonder why we have included a history book in our bookstore. The simple answer is that this is a great book that touches on important issues counselors face today.
- First, you will see how society dealt with a “madman” in the late 1800s.
- You will learn how several prominent scientists, arrogantly clinging to the “settled science” of the day, caused the death of a president.
- You will commiserate with the agonies and pain of a godly man who died a gruesome death at the hands of those charged with caring for him.
Read this book! Candice Millard did a masterful job of bringing Garfield, and his time, to life. The secular psychological community of our day could learn much from this history lesson, but I doubt they will.
—Donn R Arms
