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_(Doubleday, $29)_ James A. Garfield could have been so much more than a footnote, said Fergus M. Bordewich in _The Wall Street Journal._ Elected president in 1880, this “remarkably humble
and intellectually gifted” son of poverty spent only 17 weeks in office before a madman shot him in the back on a Washington train platform. But now author Candice Millard has given him back
some of the promise left unfulfilled when the ministrations of an incompetent doctor ensured that the former Union Army war hero would never recover. Millard’s “spirited” best seller
focuses on the shooting and Garfield’s protracted decline, but also manages to find Garfield a minor legacy. Because horrified Americans believed that the killer’s grievances stemmed from a
runaway spoils system, Garfield’s successor was able to push through Washington’s first civil-service act. Millard tries to wring too much out of “her slim material,” said Bob Hoover in the
_Pittsburgh Post-Gazette._ It might have been worthwhile to hear more about Garfield’s earlier political career or what he could have accomplished as president. Instead, Millard pads out her
story by weaving in various detours. Nearly a third of the book is a rehash of Alexander Graham Bell’s oft-told life story, supposedly justified because the inventor created an early metal
detector just to locate the bullet in Garfield’s back. Another third is unwisely devoted to the crazed assassin, said Joe Mysak in _Bloomberg.com._ Charles Guiteau had cunning, perhaps, but
he was so outright delusional that he makes “a profoundly uninteresting character.” SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple
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to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Still, there are many pleasures to be had in
Millard’s portrayals of Garfield and his Washington, said Kevin Baker in _The New York Times._ You can hate the imperious doctor whose dirty hands and ignorance about bacterial infection
sealed the president’s fate, but you’ve got to love this quack’s name: Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss. It’s also wonderful to learn that America’s first air-conditioning system was created
expressly to ease the suffering of our 20th president. More to the point, Millard doesn’t miss the main story here. She “has written us a penetrating human tragedy.” A free daily email with
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