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by Michael Bliss, 591 pp, with illus, $40, ISBN 0-19-516989-1, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2005.

JAMA. 2006;295:1589-1590.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Michael Bliss has written a masterwork, the definitive biography of Harvey Cushing, the father of modern neurosurgery and an icon of modern medicine. Professor Bliss is a distinguished historian who provides scrupulous research and balanced perspective. As a Canadian, he possesses the detachment and knowledge to write objectively about the United States. As the author of a prize-winning biography of Sir William Osler, Bliss is superbly prepared to write its natural sequel, the biography of Osler's most illustrious protégé. To top it off, Bliss is a superb storyteller, and his Cushing on the page matches the star power of Cushing in the film of his 2000th brain tumor operation.

Cushing, who grew up in Cleveland during the late 19th century, sprang from a line of New England Puritan physicians. He was small and wiry, the youngest in a family of 10. Bliss shows how these factors gave young Cushing his . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Robert M. Crowell, MD, Reviewer
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Pittsfield
rcrowell@bcn.net