Research Catalog

Title

Genius on the edge : the bizarre double life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted / Gerald Imber.

Author

Imber, Gerald.

Publication

New York, NY : Kaplan Pub., ©2010.

Supplementary Content

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 389 p., [12] p. of plates : ill.; 24 cm

Summary

"Saving countless lives with his revolutionary surgical skill, Dr. William Stewart Halsted left a legacy that continues to bring healing to patients around the globe. The first major biography of Halsted, Genius on the Edge traces the remarkable doctor's career and intriguing personal life against the backdrop of America's Gilded Age." "The man who transformed surgery from a horrific practice to a miraculous art, Halsted was born into a life of privilege that contrasted starkly with his austere Quaker family background. After struggling to define himself in his youth, he entered New York City's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1875. Genius on the Edge captures the surprisingly rudimentary training for medical students at the time, as author Gerald Imber describes an atmosphere of dismal mortality rates among patients caused mainly by physicians who were ignorant of the causes of infection." "Halsted set out to make surgery safe from infection or sepsis, and his revolutionary practices are the norm today. But all was not glory and discovery for the brilliant but tortured young surgeon. His early success as a New York surgeon was overshadowed by his cocaine addiction, which came about through experimentation with cocaine as an anesthetic and remained the epic struggle of his lifetime. Yet his clarity of surgical vision and experimentation eventually saved him from destruction, and he re-emerged as the first chief of surgery at Johns Hopkins, where he developed, among other things, the hernia repair, the radical mastectomy, the use of sterile rubber gloves, and the medical residency system." "Genius on the Edge delves into these and other compelling aspects of Halsted's career, which melded almost entirely with his personal life. His thoroughly unique marriage to a daughter of Southern aristocracy is explored in depth. His life-long friendships with other ground-breaking medical geniuses, balanced with his quirky mentorship and frequent months-long disappearances, are chronicled as well. Numerous luminaries of the period, such as Sigmund Freud, feature prominently in Halsted's story, which is in itself a milestone of American medicine."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Halsted, William, 1852-1922
• Biography as Topic
• Surgeons > United States > Biography
• History, 20th Century
• General Surgery > history
• Physicians
• History, 19th Century

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Tumultuous Times -- 2. Setting the Stage -- 3. Physicians and Surgeons -- 4. Becoming a Surgeon -- 5. New York -- 6. Cocaine -- 7. The Visionary -- 8. The Very Best Men -- 9. Baltimore -- 10. The Hospital on the Hill -- 11. Finding the Way -- 12. William Osler -- 13. The Operating Room -- 14. The Radical Cure of Breast Cancer -- 15. Life in Baltimore -- 16. The Big Four -- 17. Hernia -- 18. Establishing the Routine -- 19. Country Squire -- 20. The First Great Medical School -- 21. Teaching without Teaching -- 22. Residents -- 23. Changes -- 24. Into the 20th Century -- 25. Harvey Cushing -- 26. All Quiet on the Home Front -- 27. After Cushing -- 28. New Horizons -- 29. Addiction -- 30. Vascular Surgery -- 31. Scientist -- 32. A New Paradigm -- 33. A New Era -- 34. The World Changes -- 35. "My Dear Miss Bessie" -- 36. The Final Illness -- 37. Afterward.

ISBN

• 9781607146278
• 1607146274

LCCN

• 2009035525
• 40017627156

OCLC

• ocn430842094
• 430842094
• SCSB-8877349

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries