This extraordinary account of the attempted assasination of Garfield explores the motivations and character of several figures involved.  The most outrageous of them was Doctor Bliss, who announced he was in charge of the President's care and even dismissed Garfield's own family physician. Bliss claimed that the President and first lady had asked him to take over; Lucretia Garfield denied that.  Like many American doctors, Bliss scoffed at Lister's germ theory, although it was widely accepted and practiced in Europe.  At the train station where Garfield was shot, Bliss and 9 other doctors probed his wounds while he lay on a dirty horsehair mattress on the station floor. When Garfield was moved to the White House, Bliss probed the wounds daily trying to find the bullet. Bliss insisted that the bullet was on Garfield's right side; he would not let Bell use his new invention on Garfield's left side, because he was so sure of himself. Autopsy found the bullet on the left side.  Bliss's hubris and close-mindedness contributed mightily to Garfield's death.