The monumental life of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our
most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers
FINALIST FOR THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BOOK PRIZE - AMERICAN LIBRARY
ASSOCIATION NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
By the time he was thirty, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration
of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin
Franklin's protégé, and become John Adams's confidant, and was soon to
be appointed Washington's surgeon general. And as with the greatest
Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in
the American experiment. As the new republic coalesced, he became a
visionary writer and reformer; a medical pioneer whose insights and
reforms revolutionized the treatment of mental illness; an opponent of
slavery and prejudice by race, religion, or gender; an adviser to, and
often the physician of, America's first leaders; and "the American
Hippocrates." Rush reveals his singular life and towering legacy,
installing him in the pantheon of our wisest and boldest Founding
Fathers.
Praise for Rush
"Entertaining . . . Benjamin Rush has been undeservedly forgotten. In
medicine . . . [and] as a political thinker, he was
brilliant."--The New Yorker
"Superb . . . reminds us eloquently, abundantly, what a brilliant,
original man Benjamin Rush was, and how his contributions to . . . the
United States continue to bless us all."--The Philadelphia
Inquirer
"Perceptive . . . [a] readable reassessment of Rush's remarkable
career."--The Wall Street Journal
"An amazing life and a fascinating book."--CBS This Morning
"Fried makes the case, in this comprehensive and fascinating biography,
that renaissance man Benjamin Rush merits more attention. . . . Fried
portrays Rush as a complex, flawed person and not just a list of
accomplishments; . . . a testament to the authorial thoroughness and
insight that will keep readers engaged until the last
page."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[An] extraordinary and underappreciated man is reinstated to his
rightful place in the canon of civilizational advancement in Rush. . . .
Had I read Fried's Rush before the year's end, it would have crowned
my favorite books of 2018 . . . [a] superb biography."--Brain
Pickings
