President James Garfield was to me a bit of a "trivia" answer, the fourth assassinated president that nobody can remember. This book therefore was something of a revelation. He pulled himself up from crushing poverty and following a distinguished military, legal and academic career, was nominated (against his wishes) to stand as the Republican party for the Presidency. All indications were that he would have been one of the better presidents, but his life was cut short by a bullet from Charles Guiteau's gun and the bungling of his surgeon. Nevertheless his death did lead to the end of the patronage system within the US Civil Service and in the author of this fascinating book's opinion, lay the foundations of our modern civil society.

The style is very much that of "Devil in the White City" with several seemingly unconnected people converging and the links between each being cleverly played out. We see young Doctors pleading for the President's wounds to be treated in an antiseptic environment something that would almost certainly saved him. We read of Alexander Graham Bell's feverish attempts to design the first working metal detector in an attempt to find the bullet (Garfield's doctor however would not let Bell look in the correct place)

Throughout however the dignity of Garfield shines through and the sense of wonder at what might have been, had this basically good man been allowed to fulfill his destiny is palpable.