Ambushed! by Gail Jarrow

Ambushed!, winner of this year’s YALSA Award for nonfiction, is the absorbing, day-by-day account of of a presidential assassination and its aftermath.

Ambushed! The Assassination Plot against President Garfield by Gail Jarrow. Calkins Creek, 2021, 240 pages. (Medical Fiascos Series)

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-15

James Garfield, 20^th president of the United States, was an imposing figure both inside and out. Tall, athletic, and accomplished, he had risen from truly humble beginnings on his family’s Ohio farm to become a stellar student. One success followed another: outstanding debater and public speaker, courageous reformer, and Civil War hero, as well as sincere Christian and family man. After several terms as a U. S. Representative, he was respected enough to become a compromise candidate for president during the contentious Republican convention of 1880. What’s more, he won the campaign for an office he had not particularly wanted.

The presidency, he soon learned, was less about governing than about herding cats. “I have been dealing all these years with ideas, and here I am dealing only with persons,” he wrote. Part of the job was rewarding a steady stream of office-seekers who believed he owed them a debt. One of these was Charles Guiteau, whose unbalanced mind convinced him that he had single-handedly got Garfield elected. But Guiteau’s obvious mental instability insured he would not receive a post. On July 2, 1881, the President was waiting to board a train at the Baltimore & Ohio railway station when Charles Guiteau fired a shot into his back, dooming Garfield to become the second victim of a presidential assassination.

The contrasting personalities of the two central characters make for a dramatic and absorbing story. But it also shows how some things don’t change, such as the tendency of “experts” to shade the truth. And that well-meaning theories (of medicine, particularly) can lead to tragic consequences. Medical historians agree that the president would have survived with a little more knowledge of bacterial infection. Historical photographs and news accounts provide a well-rounded snapshot of this slice of American history.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 4)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Award: Ambushed is the winner of the 2022 Young Adult Library Services Award (YALSA) for nonfiction

YALSA Runners-up:

• In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, weeks, Months and Years after the 9/11 Attacks. Reviewed at Redeemed Reader on Sept. 7, 2021.
• The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life. Reviewed on Redeemed Reader Dec. 7, 2021.
• Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
• From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Spooked! How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America. (starred review)
• Resource: We’re a day late, but check out our list of Presidents’ Day books.

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