Wash your hands, friends. Truly that is the moral of this story of presidential assassinations, sex cults, steamship explosions, medicine and AlexanderWash your hands, friends. Truly that is the moral of this story of presidential assassinations, sex cults, steamship explosions, medicine and Alexander Graham Bell. Destiny of the Republic from historian Candice Miller is a riveting read that has so much going on in it (except for medical hygiene), threading multiple historical figures and narratives to tell the tale of lesser known President Garfield’s rather heartwarming rise to office and his very brief time there. Miller crafts a rather cinematic read out of what is surely an impressive scope of research which makes this quite engaging, though at times the rather ambitious structure feels like the aim for a novel-like narrative steamrolls over the smaller details. I appreciate the effort to make this rather brisk and brief as far as historical non-fiction goes, though there were many times I wished it would have lingered a bit more over certain aspects. Still, this is quite fascinating and this is coming from someone that tends to not have much interest in non-fiction and especially not about American presidents but I found this to be a rather enjoyable, informative and fascinating read.
‘If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.’ -James Garfield
This book first and foremost made me really like Garfield. He has so many great quotes—beyond ‘I hate mondays’—and Miller creates a really flattering historical portrait of him. I loved the story of him showing up to the Convention intending to cast a vote and leaving as candidate, with people cheering him on and Chester Arthur having a little anxiety cry over concerns of possibly having to be president. Garfield just comes across as a genuinely decent person committed to his country, against slavery, and apparently a real chatterbox. Miller juxtaposes him with a lot of villainous characters, particularly the framing of Dr. Bliss as being the real cause-of-death from not just leaving Garfield alone and constantly poking around inside him without following basic cleanliness as laid out by Joseph Lister (and looking on the wrong side of the body) and Garfieldn’s assassin, Charles Guiteau.
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Engraving of Garfield having been shot by Guiteau from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1881
Guiteau’s story is fascinating, from being unwanted in a sex cult and nicknamed Charles “Guit-out” (this same sex cult is best known for creating the silverware brand Oneida) to shooting a president over concerns he would end the spoil system and that he deserved consulship. Guiteau had come to believe he had been instrumental in Garfield's rise to power and was ordered by God to carry out the killing. A detail that really stuck with me was his imprisonment and his belief the guards were there to protect him and on his side, only to discover they were there to ensure nobody else killed him after one guard took a shot at him (and was sentenced to 8 years in prison for it). The Bell narrative, however, while fascinating for his attempts to create a device to detect the bullet in Garfield, sort of kills the momentum and often feels inflated at the expense of other aspects that I’d rather have gone into with greater detail.
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1881 political cartoon of Guiteau holding a gun and a sign reading "an office or your life."
A fun bookclub read and a fascinating look at history, Destiny of the Republic is a great little non-fiction on a period I knew next to nothing about. Its not something I would normally pick up, which is something I really appreciate about belonging to a bookclub and finding new reads that I end up enjoying. I enjoyed that it was quick and read much like a novel, though sometimes it felt a bit overambitious and might have been better (and I can't believe this is something I'd ever say) if it was longer and a bit more dry. I definitely have spent time looking up a lot of the events that were covered though. For a fun, fascinating and engaging historical read, Destiny of the Republic is a worthwhile choice. Also, wash your hands.
s.penkevich
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