The lobotomist : a maverick medical genius and his tragic quest to rid the world of mental illness

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Full Title:: The lobotomist : a maverick medical genius and his tragic quest to rid the world of mental illness / Jack El-Hai

Genre:: Biography
Subjects:: Freeman, Walter,1895-1972
Neurosurgeons--United States--Biography
Frontal lobotomy--History
Depression, Mental--Surgery--History
Physicians
Psychosurgery--history
History, 20th Century
Mental Disorders--surgery
Neurosurgical Procedures--history
Mental disorders

Table of Contents:: Prologue -- September 1936 -- Rittenhouse Square -- The education of a lobotomist -- In the hospital wards -- A perfect partner -- Refining lobotomy -- Lines of battle -- Life and death -- Waterfall -- Fame -- Road warrior -- Leaving home -- Decline -- Ghost -- Acknowledgments -- Endnotes -- Bibliography.
Summary:: Dr. Walter J. Freeman ranks as one of the most scorned physicians of the 20th century, widely remembered as a loose cannon who worked beyond the boundaries of acceptable medical practice. Yet many of the most important medical figures during his time lent their support to his work, effectively pulling lobotomy--the operation that made him famous--into the mainstream. Many of his patients observed how their lobotomies had changed them for the better. So how is it that both physicians and patients supported a procedure that today seems outrageous, even barbaric? This book takes a penetrating look into the life of a complex scientific genius who defies easy description, a brilliant but flawed figure who tried to rescue people once deemed incurable from permanent institutionalization.--From publisher description.
Language:: English
Physical Type/Description:: v, 362 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Related Resources Link:: Table of contents only
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
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