Harvey Cushing

Download or read book Harvey Cushing written by Michael Bliss and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushings 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.