From the Publisher
"This captivating book chronicles the life of a man who brought showmanship to science and touched the grey matter of a generation of mentally ill patients. Part genius, part maniac, Freeman changed forever the way we understand the link between mind and brain, and though his procedures are discredited, his biological approach to mental illness is ascendant. No history of modern psychiatry is complete without his story." —Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon
"The moment Walter Freeman's gaze lands on an ice pick in his kitchen drawer, you know you're in for a rollicking ride. This is the biography not just of Walter Freeman but of the lobotomy, a procedure as bizarre and tragic and compelling as Freeman himself. Impressively researched and even-handed, El-Hai's book unravels the man inside the monster. A fascinating read." —Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
"Vividly written and meticlously reseached, The Lobotomist is a thoughtful and absorbing biography. With skill and grace, Jack El-Hai lays bare the life and obsessions of one of the most controversial figures in American medical history. A terrific read!" —Dave Isay, award-winning NPR Producer and MacArthur Fellow
"Notorious barely begins to describe the lobotomy, one of the most controversial medical procedures ever known. Jack El-Hai makes its rise understandable at last by bringing to life the complicated, all-too-human doctor who built his career on promoting the lobotomy. This is a lucid and thoughtful account of a remarkable chapter in the history of medicine." —T. J. Stiles, author of Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War
"Jack El-Hai has written an absorbing, unsettling and cautionary story of the man who sold the lowly ice pick as the surgical solution to the mental illness of tens of thousands of people…. The author, a respected science journalist, started his research assuming that Freeman was akin to Josef Mengele. He ends this book with a nuanced, haunted view of his subject… With The Lobotomist, El-Hai gives his readers a first-class biography and, without saying so, a tutorial in the sober need for professional humility."— Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A moving portrait of failed greatness… El-Hai’s book succeeds as both an empathetic, nuanced portrait of one of America’s most complex public figures and as a record of the cultural shifts that have occurred in the treatment of mental illness over the last century." —Publishers Weekly
"Who would predict that a book about a brutal, discredited brain operation could be such fun? But The Lobotomist IS fun — for those of us whose idea of fun is having our most cherished beliefs turned on their heads. Jack El-Hai has done a masterful job of bringing to life a brilliant, slightly cruel, wholly original scientist whose contribution to the treatment of mental illness has too long been misunderstood."— Robin Marantz Henig, author of Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution
