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The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness de Jack El–Hai

The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

Autor Jack El–Hai
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 10 feb 2005

Vezi toate premiile Carte premiată

Minnesota Book Award (2006)

Observăm în literatura academică dedicată istoriei medicinei o tendință de a trata lobotomia fie ca pe o curiozitate macabră, fie ca pe un eșec sistemic, fără a analiza în profunzime psihologia celui care a promovat-o. The Lobotomist completează această lacună, oferind prima biografie exhaustivă a lui Walter Freeman, omul care a transformat o procedură chirurgicală invazivă într-un spectacol mediatic și o promisiune de salvare pentru mii de pacienți. Subliniem faptul că autorul Jack El–Hai nu se limitează la a cataloga faptele ca fiind barbare, ci reconstruiește contextul științific în care abordarea biologică a bolilor mintale începea să câștige teren în fața psihanalizei.

Descoperim aici o structură narativă riguroasă, care pornește de la educația lui Freeman în Philadelphia și parteneriatul său cu James Watts, până la momentul de cotitură din 1936 și rafinarea tehnicii transorbitale. Capitolele precum „Road Warrior” și „Decline” ilustrează tranziția sa de la statutul de geniu medical aclamat la cel de figură marginalizată. Această lucrare completează perspectiva oferită de Last Resort de Jack D. Pressman, adăugând o dimensiune biografică intimă și o analiză a personalității obsesive a lui Freeman, acolo unde Pressman se concentrează mai mult pe contextul instituțional și politicile de sănătate publică.

Considerăm că volumul reușește să mențină un echilibru fragil între oroarea procedurii descrise și fascinația pentru ambiția umană. Tonul este precis, ancorat în date istorice și bibliografie extinsă, evitând senzaționalismul facil în favoarea unei înțelegeri profunde a modului în care știința poate fi deviată de certitudini absolute. Este o lectură esențială pentru înțelegerea rădăcinilor neuroștiinței moderne și a eticii medicale.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780471232926
ISBN-10: 0471232920
Pagini: 368
Dimensiuni: 164 x 241 x 26 mm
Greutate: 0.59 kg
Ediția:New.
Editura: JOSSEY BASS
Locul publicării:Hoboken, United States

Public țintă

Serious non–fiction readers interested in the science of the brain, or narratives about curing depression––both strong selling topics.

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm această carte cititorilor pasionați de istoria medicinei și psihologie clinică. Veți câștiga o perspectivă clară asupra modului în care a apărut și a fost acceptată una dintre cele mai controversate proceduri medicale din istorie. Este un studiu de caz fascinant despre ambiție, etică și tranziția către viziunea biologică asupra creierului, scris cu rigoarea unui cercetător și ritmul unui biograf talentat.

Despre autor

Jack El–Hai este un scriitor și jurnalist american specializat în istoria medicinei și a științei. Munca sa a fost recunoscută prin premiul Minnesota Book Award, obținut tocmai pentru volumul The Lobotomist. El-Hai este cunoscut pentru capacitatea de a transforma arhive medicale dense în narațiuni accesibile, explorând adesea zonele gri ale eticii și personalitățile complexe care au modelat medicina modernă. Colaborările sale cu publicații de prestigiu și cercetările meticuloase l-au impus ca o autoritate în documentarea perioadei de pionierat a neurochirurgiei americane.

Descriere scurtă

The Lobotomistexplores 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. Drawing on Freeman s documents and interviews with Freeman′s family, Jack El–Hai takes a penetrating look at the life and work of this complex scientific genius.The Lobotomistexplores 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.

Descriere

Advance Praise for the lobotomist "This captivating book chronicles the life of a man who brought showmanship to science and touched the grey matter of a generation of mentally ill patients. Part genius, part maniac, Freeman changed forever the way we understand the link between mind and brain, and though his procedures are discredited, his biological approach to mental illness is ascendant. No history of modern psychiatry is complete without this story."
Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon
"The moment Walter Freeman′s gaze lands on an ice pick in his kitchen drawer, you know you′re in for a rollicking ride. This is the biography not just of Walter Freeman but of the lobotomy, a procedure as bizarre and tragic and compelling as Freeman himself. Impressively researched and even–handed, El–Hai′s book unravels the man inside the monster. A fascinating read."
Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
"Vividly written and meticulously researched, The Lobotomist is a thoughtful and absorbing biography. With skill and grace, Jack El–Hai lays bare the life and obsessions of one of the most controversial figures in American medical history. A terrific read!"
Dave Isay, award–winning NPR Producer and MacArthur Fellow
"Notorious barely begins to describe the lobotomy, one of the most controversial medical procedures ever known. Jack El–Hai makes its rise understandable at last by bringing to life the complicated, all–too–human doctor who built his career on promoting the lobotomy. This is a lucid and thoughtful account of a remarkable chapter in the history of medicine."
T. J. Stiles, author of Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War

Cuprins

Prologue. 1. September 1936.
2. Rittenhouse Square.
3. The Education of a Lobotomist.
4. In the Hospital Wards.
5. A Perfect Partner.
6 Refining Lobotomy.
7. The Lines of Battle.
8. Advance and Retreat.
9. Waterfall.
10. Fame.
11. Road Warrior.
12. Leaving Home.
13. Decline.
14. Ghost.
Acknowledgments.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.

Recenzii

"Written with such clarity and engaging detail that a reader has difficulty in putting it down." (The New York Review of Books, August 11, 2005) Jack El–Hai has written an absorbing, unsettling and cautionary story of the man who sold the lowly ice pick as the surgical solution to the mental illness of tens of thousands of people . The author, a respected science journalist, started his research assuming that Freeman was akin to Josef Mengele. He ends this book with a nuanced, haunted view of his subject WithThe Lobotomist,El–Hai gives his readers a first–class biography and, without saying so, a tutorial in the sober need for professional humility. (Karen R. Long,Cleveland Plain Dealer)
One of the many virtues of El–Hai′s text is the rich detail he provides about Freeman′s life and ideas. His readers will thus be able to judge Walter Freeman for themselves and decide whether he is, as El–Hai would have it, "a maverick medical genius" or, as others have concluded, a moral monster. (Andrew Scull,The Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2005)
Parts ofThe Lobotomistcan best be read curled in a fetal position, but the reader would be well–advised to make the effort to wade through the relievedly short gruesome passages. That s because Walter Jackson Freeman is a man worth getting to know, a classic American archetype of genius whose one crucial idea is wielded over and over again. (Sam Stowe,California Literary Review, April 3, 2005)
For anyone interested in the science of mind and body,The Lobotomistis surely a reading must. (Louis C. Martin,Science and Theology News)
a lively biography of a much maligned and misunderstood practitioner (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, August 2005)
a well researched account of psychosurgery in the mid 20thcentury (The Guardian, June 11, 2005)
fascinating book an important and disturbing contribution to the history of psychiatry (New Statesman, June 17, 2005)
meticulously researched account (British Medical Journal, 28 May 2005)
According to freelance journalist El–Hai, Walter Freeman (1895–1972) was "the most scorned physician of the twentieth century" except for Nazi Joseph Mengele. In this first biography, he deftly chronicles the rise and fall of Freeman and the procedure he championed. Nearly 70 years ago, Freeman began refining lobotomy, in which a sharp instrument is inserted under the patient′s eyelid and into the frontal lobes of the brain; this resulted in nerve damage that seemed to offer remarkable cures in many psychiatric patients. Over time, the operation became widely adopted by the medical community and supported by mental health professionals, families, and many patients themselves. Yet there were always dissenters who attacked lobotomy as useless, cruel, or indeed criminal. Freeman, in turn, spent his entire career performing, promoting, and justifying the operation–even after the development of drugs like chlorpormazine that offered the promise of "chemical" lobotomies. By the time of his death, lobotomy had been gone for more than a decade.  A worthy purchase for any library, especially for medical and large public libraries. ––A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama Lib., Birmingham (Library Journal, January 15, 2005)
"InThe Lobotomist, Jack El–Hai′s lively biography, Freeman comes across as a classic American type, a do–gooder and a go–getter with a bit of the huckster thrown in." ––William Grimes,The New York Times
"Driven, egotistical, brilliant, and focused, Freeman is as fascinating as the chronicle of twentieth–century psychiatry in which El–Hai sets his story." ––Donna Chavez, Booklist
"There are more curious characters than Freeman in the annals of medical history, but few are so curiously American."––Verlyn Klinkenborg,DiscoverMagazine
"In this first biography, El–Hai deftly chronicles the rise and fall of Freeman and the procedure he championed." ––Library Journal
"Good biographers must keep an open mind, to avoid stereotyping and reductionism. Fortunately, El–Hai turns out to be a good biographer."––Steve Weinberg,The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Written with such clarity and engaging detail that a reader has difficulty in putting it down." (The New York Review of Books, August 11, 2005) a lively biography of a much maligned and misunderstood practitioner (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, August 2005)
a well researched account of psychosurgery in the mid 20thcentury (The Guardian, June 11, 2005)
fascinating book an important and disturbing contribution to the history of psychiatry (New Statesman, June 17, 2005)
meticulously researched account (British Medical Journal, 28 May 2005)
"El–Hai gives his readers a first–class biography and, without saying so, a tutorial in the sober need for professional humility. (Karen R. Long,Cleveland Plain Dealer)
One of the many virtues of El–Hai′s text is the rich detail he provides about Freeman′s life and ideas. (Andrew Scull,The Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2005)
Walter Jackson Freeman is a man worth getting to know, a classic American archetype of genius whose one crucial idea is wielded over and over again. (Sam Stowe,California Literary Review, April 3, 2005)
For anyone interested in the science of mind and body,The Lobotomistis surely a reading must." (Louis C. Martin,Science and Theology News)
"...a worthy purchase" (Library Journal, January 15, 2005)
"InThe Lobotomist, Jack El–Hai′s lively biography, Freeman comes across as a classic American type, a do–gooder and a go–getter with a bit of the huckster thrown in." (William Grimes,The New York Times)
"Driven, egotistical, brilliant, and focused, Freeman is as fascinating as the chronicle of twentieth–century psychiatry in which El–Hai sets his story." (Donna Chavez,Booklist)
"There are more curious characters than Freeman in the annals of medical history, but few are so curiously American." (Verlyn Klinkenborg,DiscoverMagazine)
"In this first biography, El–Hai deftly chronicles the rise and fall of Freeman and the procedure he championed." (Library Journal)
"Good biographers must keep an open mind, to avoid stereotyping and reductionism. Fortunately, El–Hai turns out to be a good biographer." (Steve Weinberg,The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Notă biografică

JACK EL–HAI is the Executive Vice President of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and a winner of the June Roth Memorial Award for Medical Journalism. A contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post Magazine, American Heritage, and numerous other publications, he lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters.

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