TEACHER GUIDE

Educator Guide with discussion questions and curriculum connections: AMBUSHED! Readers Guide pdf

Listen as Gail talks about writing AMBUSHED! and reads an excerpt from the book. Click here.

AMBUSHED! can be used in history, science, and health classes

AMBUSHED! covers the historical period from the 1850s to the 1880s. Besides the Garfield assassination and the trial of his assassin, topics explored include the Civil War, Lincoln’s administration and assassination, passage of the 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments, and the 1880 presidential campaign.

As a STEM book, AMBUSHED! discusses germ theory and its slow acceptance among the American medical community after the Civil War. Garfield suffered because his doctors did not follow Joseph Lister’s antiseptic advice. The book describes the president’s wound, his medical care and surgeries, the bacterial infection that resulted, and his autopsy. It also covers the technological advances connected to Garfield’s case: air-conditioning and metal detectors. The final chapter reviews the medical changes that came after Garfield’s well-publicized death from infection, explaining how he would have been treated in an emergency room today.

VISUAL MATERIALS

Photographs of James Garfield, his family, his home, political leaders of the period, and his doctors. Archival illustrations from newspapers and magazines depicting the 1880 presidential campaign, the assassination, funeral, and the trial of the assassin Charles Guiteau. Images of Garfield’s diary entries and letters, as well as telegrams and letters from well-wishers sent to him after the shooting.

MORE TO EXPLORE

PBS: American Experience: Murder of a President
pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/garfield/
Find out more about the Garfield assassination. Read the program transcript and follow links to information about Garfield’s life and his family, presidential protection, and assassinations.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Mentor, Ohio
nps.gov/jaga
The U.S. National Park Service provides tours of Garfield’s home and farm. The visitor center features displays and special programs. The website contains videos, articles, photographs, and links to more information. Visit the YouTube Channel to take a virtual tour of the Garfield home.

James A. Garfield Papers, Library of Congress
loc.gov/collections/james-a-garfield-papers/about-this-collection/
Check out the Library of Congress website to access online resources about Garfield’s private life, the 1880 presidential election, and his presidency. Read his diaries, speeches, and letters to family.

On Joseph Lister
To learn more about the early application of germ theory to medical care, see The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris (New York: Scientific American/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017) .

U. S. Secret Service
secretservice.gov/about/history
Discover the history of the Secret Service, including how the agency’s protection duties have expanded over the years. Learn about other presidential assassinations.

Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Library of Congress
loc.gov/collections/alexander-graham-bell-papers/about-this-collection/
Read about Alexander Graham Bell, who tried to use his metal detector to locate the bullet in Garfield’s body. Find information about his invention of the telephone and his other scientific work. View photographs, his laboratory notebooks, and letters to family, friends, and business associates. The Related Resources section has links to books and websites.