Friday, February 7, 2014

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

On Wednesday, January 29, our entire group converged upon Diana’s home for an early February book discussion.  With an abundant Meyer lemons crop this year, Diana prepared some lemony delicious dishes including a dessert that was the perfect marriage of a lemon bar and a pie – yum!

Summary:
This non-fiction book was written to expose the modern day reader to the behind-the-scenes events in the late 1870’s and early 1880’s which ultimately led to the death of President James Garfield.  Through extensive research, Ms. Millard constructs a fascinating historical record of the election and assassination of a president who only spent a few months in office.

Comments:
This story had all the ingredients of a best-selling fictional novel -- a world famous inventor, a madman, political villains, medical science breakthroughs, and a kindhearted man whose life was cut short by a lunatic’s bullet and inept doctors – except this is a true story!  

It was interesting to see how our political system has evolved from its early beginnings. The overt corruption and strong-arm tactics were disappointing, while the drama of the conventions was thrilling. It’s a shame that the practice of granting the citizens access to the president, which made perfect sense to a nation which had not that long ago broken free of the monarch’s rule, is one of the reasons that we lost a few of our U.S. presidents to assassinations. 

Our resident medical expert was most disturbed by the ego of the book's medical professionals which kept them from ever considering options which may have saved President Garfield, including Alexander Bell’s liberal use of his metal detector to locate the bullet and sterilization of medical tools. Joseph Lister had unsuccessfully tried to convince American doctors to sterilize everything when dealing with open wounds. Although an accepted practice at that time among European doctors and medical facilities, their American counterparts were slow to believe in the importance of antisepsis – preventing infection by destroying germs - a concept which has saved millions of lives.  More than twenty years after Garfield’s death, the American ambassador to England shared these words at the Royal Society:  “My lord,” the ambassador said, addressing Lister as he sat in an opulent hall, surrounded by powerful men and celebrated scientists, “it is not a profession, it is not a nation, it is humanity itself which, with uncovered head, salutes you.” (p. 259 – Kindle)

What a tragedy to lose a president who believed in equality for the newly freed slaves and who had a desire to work with men from both political parties.  He could have made much needed positive changes for a nation which was still deeply wounded from a destructive civil war.  President Garfield was a loving husband, father, and loyal friend who even on his death bed as he suffered through intense pain evoked this heartfelt tribute:  “Even as he lay dying, Garfield was kind, patient, cheerful, and deeply grateful.” (p. 227 – Kindle)

Memorable Quote:
We loved President Garfield’s quotes which were placed at the beginning of each of the new chapters.  Here are a couple of our favorites:

“Theologians in all ages have looked out admiringly upon the material universe and…demonstrated the power, wisdom, and goodness of God; but we know of no one who has demonstrated the same attributes from the history of the human race.” (p. 48 – Kindle)

“I love to believe that no heroic sacrifice is ever lost, that the characters of men are moulded and inspired by what their fathers have done.” (p. 173 – Kindle)

FAB Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 stars)
What an interesting time for our nation.  We all learned so much from this book. This story is well written, thoroughly documented and presented in a way which made this reader want to keep reading in the hopes that the president would eventually survive, even though I knew the ending!  If Ms. Millard had been my high school American History teacher, I am pretty sure I would not have daydreamed as much as I did in that class!

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