Screenwriter and Film Producer Mike Makowsky Will Curate an Exhibit at Raab
The Raab Collection is pleased to welcome Emmy Award winner Mike Makowsky as our next Guest Curator. Makowsky is the writer/creator of Death by Lightning, an upcoming Netflix limited drama series about the assassination of President James Garfield, starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen. He previously wrote and produced the HBO film Bad Education, based on a scandal from his real-life hometown, for which he received an Emmy in 2020.
“Death by Lightning:” The Assassination of President Garfield
Makowsky’s most recent creation, Death by Lightning, which will premiere on November 6, chronicles the extraordinary life and death of our 20th president, who was killed by an admirer turned assassin. It was inspired by Candice Millard’s 2011 nonfiction book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. “As soon as I finished the book,” said Makowsky, “I knew that I needed to adapt it and that in its best incarnation, it could speak to people in ways that other period shows might not.”
In addition to Michael Shannon (playing President Garfield) and Matthew Macfadyen (playing the assassin, Charles Guiteau), the cast of the historical drama series also includes Betty Gipin (as First Lady Crete Garfield), Nick Offerman (as Vice President Chester Arthur), and Bradley Whitford (as Senator James Blaine). Other historical figures who make cameos include Robert Todd Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Senator Roscoe Conkling.
“It’s been the thrill of a lifetime seeing this crack team come together to bring James Garfield and his cohort back from the annals of long-forgotten history,” said Makowsky of his role in the series. “Six years into working on this project, it’s a story I still can’t believe is true — in all its wild, tragic glory — and it somehow feels even more relevant to our world today than ever before. I can’t wait for us to be able to finally share it.”
You can view the official trailer here:
The exhibit curated by Makowsky will debut on the Raab website later this month.
About the Guest Curators Program at Raab
Several times a year, The Raab Collection invites authors, historians, and thought leaders to choose a selection of documents currently for sale with Raab and curate a themed ‘exhibit’ with commentary by the Guest Curator. They share their experience and expertise, motivations and passions, bringing history to life in ways only they can. Previous Guest Curators have included Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon; Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association; and Edward F. O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, among others. The Raab Collection is often on the front line of historical discovery. Many of the pieces we sell are unpublished or were acquired directly from the descendants or heirs of historical figures and collectors, often unseen by the general public or the research community before. This offers each Guest Curator robust and interesting material to highlight.
