About this item
The remarkable story of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our nation's most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers In the summer of 1776, fifty-six men put their quills to a dangerous document they called the Declaration of Independence. Among them was a thirty-year-old doctor named Benjamin Rush. One of the youngest signatories, he was also, among stiff competition, one of the most visionary. A brilliant physician and writer, Rush was known as the "American Hippocrates" for pioneering national healthcare and revolutionizing treatment of mental illness and addiction. Yet medicine is only part of his legacy. Dr. Rush was both a progressive thorn in the side of the American political establishment - a vocal opponent of slavery, capital punishment, and prejudice by race, religion or gender - and close friends with its most prominent leaders. He was the protg of Franklin, the editor of Common Sense, Washington's surgeon general, and the broker of peace between Adams and Jefferson, yet his stubborn convictions more than once threatened his career and his place in the narrative of America's founding. Drawing on a trove of previously unpublished letters and images, the voluminous correspondence between Rush and his better-known counterparts, and his candid and incisive personal writings, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Stephen Fried resurrects the most significant Founding Father we've never heard of and finally installs Dr. Rush in the pantheon of great American leaders.
About the Author
Stephen Fried is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author who teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Pennsylvania. His books include THING OF BEAUTY: THE TRAGEDY OF SUPERMODEL GIA (which inspired the Emmy-winning HBO film "Gia" and introduced the word "fashionista" into the English language) ; BITTER PILLS; THE NEW RABBI; HUSBANDRY; and APPETITE FOR AMERICA: FRED HARVEY AND THE BUSINESS OF CIVILIZING THE WILD WEST--ONE MEAL AT A TIME (a New York Times best seller that was also named one of the ten best books of the year by the Wall Street Journal.) He was also co-author, with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, of A COMMON STRUGGLE.
His latest book is RUSH: REVOLUTION, MADNESS AND THE VISIONARY DOCTOR WHO BECAME A FOUNDING FATHER (Crown 9/18) .
A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award, he has written for Vanity Fair, Glamour, The Washington Post Magazine, GQ, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, Ladies Home Journal, Parade, and Philadelphia magazine (where he got his start.) Fried lives in Philadelphia with his wife, author Diane Ayres.
