Here is the first biography to appear in fifty years of Harvey Cushing, a giant of American medicine and without doubt the greatest figure in the history of brain surgery. Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushing's professional and his personal life in remarkable detail. Bliss paints an engaging portrait of a man of ambition, boundless, driving energy, a fanatical work ethic, a penchant for self-promotion and ruthlessness, more than a touch of egotism and meanness, and an enormous appetite for life. Equally important, Bliss traces the rise of American surgery as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. The book describes how Cushing, working in the early years of the 20th century, developed remarkable new techniques that let surgeons open the skull, expose the brain, and attack tumors--all with a much higher rate of success than previously known. Indeed, Cushing made the miraculous in surgery an everyday event, as he and his team compiled an astonishing record of treating more than two thousand tumors. Moreover, Cushing was also a leading authority on the pituitary gland and a pioneer of endocrinology. And in his spare time, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his massive two-volume biography of William Osler, who was Cushing's colleague. This is the definite Cushing biography, an epic narrative of high surgical adventure. Written by a prize-winning medical historian and acclaimed author, it captures the highs and lows of an extraordinary life, illuminating the contributions of a surgeon who has earned an enduring place in the pantheon of medical history.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Harvey Cushing - A Life in Surgery:

The book is a good read, particularly to those interested in medicine and more particularly, medical history. The book is well written, informative and holds ones attention amazingly well. Although I have never read Michael Bliss (author) before, I will certainly be looking out for him in the future. I very much recommend reading the book.

The best biography of Cushing:

Harvey Cushing's life and achievements deserved the very best of a literary recounting and this is it. Previous biographies (including Fulton's "classic") of Cushing, the Father of Neurosurgery, were uniformly dull or disappointing. Michael Bliss has now written the very best Cushing biography and has undoubtedly set the standard for years to come. It is extremely readable despite being detailed in both the technical aspects of neurosurgery and also Cushing's private life. Cushing himself won a Pulitzer... more info

Excellent Biography of America's Pioneer in Neurosugery:

It is a strange mystery why a man of such accomplishments and medical innovation in the history of neurosurgery, the American pioneer in fact, is not more well known in popular culture. Dr. Harvey Cushing has to be one of the most fascinating, complex and astounding medical personalities in the last century. He became the first of American medical men to be an international leader in this special field. Harvey was part of a long line of medical men, his great grandfather, grandfather and father were all... more info

Terrific portrait of Cushing:

I must second the other positive review of the book. I had previously read his biography of Osler, when it came out a number of years ago, and found it to the most well-rounded portrait of Osler that I have read. His biography of Cushing is equally is good. Bliss writes well and easily. I think his estimate of Cushing is a fair one. He gives all sides: the driven surgical pioneer and mentor who really established neurosurgery as a legitimate field, but also the workaholic who neglected his family and could... more info

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