James A. Garfield

May 29, 2006
One of America's least remembered Presidents, Garfield (1831-1881) is convincingly but briefly sketched in this fascinating account of his life and death. Garfield was born in a Cuyahoga County, Ohio log cabin, and his father died when he was two. After a variety if menial jobs in childhood, a rigorous determination to be educated, and a short stint as a Civil War officer, Garfield embarked on a a Congressional career. The intricacies of post- Reconstruction politics dominated his stint there, as well as his presidential campaign, and Rutkow gives an accomplished narrative of the debates of the day. What sets this book apart from other accounts is its its rigorous analysis of the assassination attempt, and the attendant medical mishandlings which led to his death a mere six months after taking office in January of 1881. Rutkow (Bleeding Blue and Grey: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine) is a clinical professor of surgery; he offers a brilliant summary of contemporary medical practices, and chronicles the decline of the President's health with informative (if gory) exactness. The material of the final third of the book is clearly the area of Rutkow's expertise, and the vibrant details and analysis contained there is what makes this an unorthodox but ultimately intriguing example of minor Presidential biography.

June 1, 2006
In this latest installment of the -American Presidents - series, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Rutkow (surgery, Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey; "Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine") offers this brief but highly readable biography of our 20th President on the 125th anniversary of his shooting. Rutkow portrays Garfield in a rags-to-riches story, as he rose from humble beginnings to become a college president, Union Army general, and congressman. He became a favorite of the Republican Party, winning the 1880 presidential election after a dark-horse nomination, only to have his administration cut short by an assassin -s bullet. While academics may lament the reliance on a limited number of sources for Garfield -s life, the value of this study lies in Rutkow -s discussion of the faulty medical attention Garfield received (the bullet missed his spine and all major organs, but he languished and died from infection several weeks later). Taking up half the book, the detailed review of Garfield -s poor care at the hands of incompetent and arrogant doctors plainly shows that his death could and should have been avoided. Recommended for public libraries and medical history collections." -Michael C. Miller, Dallas P.L."

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2006
James A. Garfield was part of a string of generally forgotten, late-nineteenth-century presidents bookended between war hero U. S. Grant and charismatic Teddy Roosevelt. His was one of the briefest administrations; the second murdered president, he died (1881) only six months after assuming the office. This latest entry in the American Presidents series is by an unexpected author, a professor of surgery. Consequently, what is " not" unexpected is his emphasis on medical practice: specifically, the cause and protraction of Garfield's dying--as reconstructed here, truly a horror story. The author cogently tracks the ambitious Garfield's life from Ohio farm boy, to college student and teacher, to scholar, to politician, and to president. Garfield's lengthy death struggle, following his shooting in a Washington, D.C., train station, stemmed from widespread infection, a direct result of unclean doctor's fingers and instruments. As Garfield lay for weeks on what would be his deathbed, "he was rotting from the inside out." Although Garfield's "accomplishments as president were few," he did hold the supreme office in the land and thus deserves this sensitive biography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)