Download PDF The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness
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The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness
Download PDF The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness
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Review
Walter Freeman believed that "the despair of psychiatric illness demanded a decisive, drastic remedy." And that remedy was lobotomy, "cutting the neural connections in the prefrontal regions of the brain," a practice that these days, writes Jack El-Hai in The Lobotomist, "seems so obviously wrong." Freeman performed nearly 3,500 lobotomies and "aside from the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele . . . ranks as the most scorned physician of the twentieth century." And yet, "many of the era's most important medical figures . . . lent support to Freeman's work." Nor did he intend to cause harm. "I had to recognize," writes El-Hai, "the persuasive evidence that at times he acted in the best interests of his lobotomy patients, given the limitation of the medical environment in which he worked and the perilous nature of scientific innovation." (Washington Post Book World, March 18, 2007)
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From the Back Cover
Praise for The Lobotomist "Written with such clarity and engaging detail that a reader has difficulty in putting it down." —The New York Review of Books "One of the many virtues of El-Hai's text is the rich detail he provides about Freeman's life and ideas." —Los Angeles Times "Fascinating . . . an important and disturbing contribution to the history of psychiatry." —New Statesman "Captivating. . . . No history of modern psychiatry is complete without this story." —Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, M.D., who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Although many patients did not benefit from the thousands of lobotomies Freeman performed, others believed their lobotomies changed them for the better. Drawing on a rich collection of documents Freeman left behind and interviews with Freeman's family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look into the life of this complex scientific genius and traces the physician's fascinating life and work.
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Product details
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (February 9, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0470098309
ISBN-13: 978-0470098301
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.1 out of 5 stars
48 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#435,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Great biography providing insight into what drove Freemen. On one level I think he truly wanted to help others but primary driving force of his mass lobotomies was to fulfill his own needs. Intelligent man but he had some of his own issues bubbling just below the surface - ones he could hide from the public but not from those who truly knew him
This book is a shocking look at Walter Freeman's uninhibited war against unacceptable behavior in the early to mid 1900s. It's shocking to read about the perception of mental illness, what constituted illness, and how a husband could "control" a wife's mental illness (misbehaving or undesirable attitudes) by "curing" her with an ice pick to the brain. Which is exactly what happened to Rose Kennedy. This was also performed on children. A stunning read.
Jack El-Hai tells the fascinating story of Walter Freeman, a neurologist in the first half of the 20th century who performed the majority of the lobotomies in the U.S. El-Hai clearly wants to show us what drove Freeman to the perspective and approach that he used and he kind of succeeds in this endeavor. Yet the apologist point of view is very hard to take in many places. For example, el-Hai mentions almost in passing the many children that Freeman operated on. El-Hai does not go into this, doesn't give us the basic facts like the number of lobotomized children nor does he explain whether Freeman approached operating on children with any trepidation. Did he worry that the effects on children and adults would be different? In the end, I found Freeman's consistent approach of playing fast and loose with data truly stomach-turning. And the disappointing bit of el-Hai's rendering of the story is the superficial treatment of the story. There is no analysis of the data at important points along the way, no attempt to see how Freeman, a clearly intelligent man, could have run amok with such a potent weapon, even after it was clear that it did not work more often than not. I am now looking forward to reading the Valenstein book which appears to be a more reasoned, sober, and thoughtful account.
This is a marvelous, extremely well written, and very well researched account of the personality of a medical genius who sincerely thought he could cure almost everybody with psychiatric disease by performing lobotomies. The book gives an unbiased account of the personal, family, medical and academic life, the motivation and the personality of Walter Freeman,aka the lobotomist. It is a must read for everybody who has a mediatized negativisitic view of this medical doctor, whose intentions were to do good for patients and humanity, but are distracted by his showmanship. It explains where and why he went too far, but in historical context, and based on his individual personality characteristics. All too often, even neurologists, psychiatrists and neurosurgeons give a personal opinion of Walter Freeman, without ever having read his original papers and books and without putting them in their historical context. If one only wants to read one book on the person who made lobotomies (in)famous, this is definitely the one. It will change your view on one of the most villified doctors in the history of medicine. It certainly changed my opinion.
It is a good book..........But keep in mind it was written with the subject's family.So the dirt about what a cheating jerk he was to his wife...........Was not included in the book.Not that I read "kitty kelly" type of books.But he seemed like a jerk to me.He cheated on his wife and it did not seem to bother him when he killed a patient.
It's easy to look back now and consider lobotomy only with horror. But this book puts it squarely in its true context of failure after failure to treat severe mental illness in the early 20th century. The author has clearly done an exhaustive job of research and presents it in a very readable way, painting the subject in a complex and subtle light.
In this biography of a once infamous, but now little known doctor, Jack El-Hai has created an outstanding history of a complex and interesting man. We not only learn about the man, but also a great deal about he world and society that he lived and practiced in. The background and historical information that the reader is given is relevant, engaging, and adds a great deal to the story. As with any great biography, the reader feels as if they have really gotten to know Dr. Freeman, and have some understanding of his motivations, goals, and human faults. I honestly thought that Freeman would end up being some sort of mad scientist, who would be easy to despise. That just didn't happen. The man we meet is a brilliant, workaholic healer who is embarking on his career in the shadow of his Grandfather - quite literally a legend in the medical community. He had set the bar high, and Freeman put superhuman energy into trying to reach it. Yes, he had an ego and ambition, but no doctor would put forth the effort that he did unless he possessed a genuine concern and love for his patients. This is a great book because it fairly and honestly puts Freeman's career, and the highly controversial procedure he championed into historical and technological perspective. Because it is fair and factual, it is a vindication of sorts. He was human. He was trying to solve a very complex problem using the tools, knowledge, and technology that was available to him. In retrospect, what he did may seem horrible. At some point in time, to future generations, chemotherapy used in the treatment of cancer may very well seem the same way. History judges all great men, but superior biographies such as this help ensure that history's judgment is fair. It is difficult to conceive of a better quality biography about this man every being written.
I love the book, however when I received it, it was quite dirty
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