Thank you for your comments

I am the moron who burned his book research in July. I have read each and every one of your comments, and appreciate them all-both the supportive ones and the critical ones. I greatly regret what I did that night-I let my emotions get the best of me. I have revived my book project, albeit a scaled down version. My book will not be a comprehensive biography of William Henry Harrison. It will cover his brief presidency, illness, and untimely death, and the shock waves it sent through the frontier nation. I will probably self-publish it (not vanity publishing, though). Thank you all for your encouragement and criticism. The posters on this board are knowledgeable and kind.

Chris, you nailed it! People were scared, especially in the frontier. It was the first time a U.S. president had died in office, and many thought it was God passing judgement on the United States. Harrison was elected, rightly or wrongly, as the populist candidate, much in the same manner as Andrew Jackson had been. I agree with you that the "events of history," i.e. being in a certain place at a certain time in history, is what makes people famous. Thank you for your thoughful reply.