A narrative account of the twentieth president's political career offers insight into his background as a scholar and Civil War hero, his battles against the corrupt establishment, and Alexander Graham Bell's failed attempt to save him from an assassin's bullet.

Prologue: Chosen -- Part One: Promise. The scientific spirit -- Providence -- "A beam in darkness" -- God's minute man -- Bleak mountain -- Part Two: War. Hand and soul -- Real Brutuses and Bolingbrokes -- Brains, flesh, and blood -- Casus belli -- The dark dreams of presidents -- "A desperate deed" -- Part Three: Fear. "Thank God it is all over" -- "It's true" -- All evil consequences -- Blood-guilty -- Part Four: Tortured for the Republic. Neither death nor life -- One nation -- "Keep heart" -- On a mountaintop, alone -- Terror, hope, and despair -- After all -- All the angels of the universe -- Epilogue: Forever and forever more.