Dr. Benjamin Rush: The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation

by Harlow Giles Unger

Overview

A gripping, often startling biography of the Founding Father of an America that other Founding Fathers forgot—an America of women, African Americans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, indentured workers, the poor, the mentally ill, and war veterans

Ninety percent of Americans could not vote and did not enjoy rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness when our Founding Fathers proclaimed, "all men are created equal." Alone among those who signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush heard the cries of those other, deprived Americans and stepped forth as the nation's first great humanitarian and social reformer.

Remembered primarily as America's leading, most influential physician, Rush led the Founding Fathers in calling for abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, improved medical care for injured troops, free health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation, an end to child labor, free universal public education, humane treatment and therapy for the mentally ill, prison reform, and an end to capital punishment.

Using archival material from Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Philadelphia, as well as significant new materials from Rush's descendants and historical societies, Harlow Giles Unger's new biography restores Benjamin Rush to his rightful place in American history as the Founding Father of modern American medical care and psychiatry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306824326
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	09/11/2018
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	477,042
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Acclaimed historian Harlow Giles Unger is a former Distinguished Visiting Fellow at George Washington's Mount Vernon. He is the author of twenty-six previous books, including twelve biographies of America's Founding Fathers and three histories of the early Republic. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Chronology xv

Prologue 1

Chapter 1 The Making of a Physician 5

Chapter 2 The Making of a Patriot 29

Chapter 3 Broken by a Cannon Ball 55

Chapter 4 "The Revolution Is Not Over!" 75

Chapter 5 My Friends in Jails 99

Chapter 6 Murder by War 121

Chapter 7 The Hundred Days of Doom 139

Chapter 8 "You Cannot Die Now, Doctor!" 151

Chapter 9 Bleed, Bleed, Bleed 165

Chapter 10 Father of Psychiatry 181

Chapter 11 On the Causes of Death 201

Chapter 12 Healing the Last Wound 227

Post Mortem 247

Appendix A Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush by Topic 251

Appendix B Medical Inquiries and Observations by Benjamin Rush 259

Appendix C Essays: Literary, Moral & Philosophical 263

Appendix D Thomas Jefferson's Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus, Compared with Those of Others 265

Notes 269

Selected Bibliography 287

Index 293

Editorial Reviews

08/13/2018
Unger (Henry Clay: America’s Greatest Statesman) offers a useful biography of a lesser-known Founding Father, but his treatment of his subject lacks the nuance and depth of Stephen Fried’s superior offering, Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father. Unger walks readers through the main points of Rush’s life, starting with his medical education in Scotland and his early career as a doctor in Philadelphia. The author’s choices about how much attention to pay to certain events are not always logical; for example, he spends about as much space on medical pioneer Galen’s basis for believing that bloodletting was beneficial as on Rush’s role in shaping Thomas Paine’s writing of Common Sense, providing no information on the wide impact that pamphlet had. Unger does give Rush’s thinking about the relationship of mind and body, which led to his being dubbed the “father of American psychiatry” by the American Psychiatric Association, more prominence than Fried does. Despite the book’s flaws, it is a valuable introduction to a man justifiably characterized as “the founding father of an America that other founding fathers forgot—an America of women, slaves, indentured workers, laborers, prisoners, the poor, the indigent sick and injured.” (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A valuable introduction to a man justifiably characterized as 'the founding father of an America that other founding fathers forgot-an America of women, slaves, indentured workers, laborers, prisoners, the poor, the indigent sick and injured.'"—Publishers Weekly

"A highly readable account of a humanitarian who cared for others more than for himself. A hero of his era."—Washington Times

"[Unger] delivers Rush from his inexplicable obscurity in this fine biography...If you love biography, you're in for some pleasant reading. If you love early American history, you're going to wonder how you've missed Dr. Rush for so long."—The Reagan Review

"In an age of towering literary, political and military giants such as Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Washington, and others, it is indeed surprising that Rush should be as little remembered as he is by most Americans. Perhaps this biography can right this and return him to the pantheon of our greatest Founding Fathers."—New York Journal of Books

"Sympathetic and readable...Reveal[s] a dedicated humanitarian with an enduring influence upon American medicine."—Wall Street Journal

"Unger has added another major contribution to his collection of profiles of America's Founding Fathers...[His] biography of Rush exposes the important work of a medical, political and social pioneer."—Roanoke Times

"Restores Dr. Benjamin Rush to his rightful place in American history as the Founding Father of American civil rights, medical care and psychiatry...Impressively informative, exceptional in scope and execution...An extraordinary and deftly written biography."
—Midwest Book Review

"[An] enjoyable read...Successfully present[s] a man who never quit, even in the face of failure or public humiliation."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"A biography of the Founding Father of an America that other Founding Fathers forgot-an America of women, African Americans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, indentured workers, the poor, the mentally ill, and war veterans."—Taft Bulletin

From the Publisher

Dr. Benjamin Rush might be best remembered as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but this audiobook shows him to be a far more complex and significant contributor to our young nation’s development in several areas such as public health and the abolition of slavery. Robert Petkoff offers a solid narration. His voice is clear and steady, carrying listeners along even during detailed discussions of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. He adopts a slightly reserved tone when the author quotes a Rush letter at length. He handles the occasional foreign phrase and title with ease. The footnotes occasionally interrupt the flow of the narrative, but this is a small drawback to overall enjoyment. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

Dr. Benjamin Rush might be best remembered as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but this audiobook shows him to be a far more complex and significant contributor to our young nation’s development in several areas such as public health and the abolition of slavery. Robert Petkoff offers a solid narration. His voice is clear and steady, carrying listeners along even during detailed discussions of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. He adopts a slightly reserved tone when the author quotes a Rush letter at length. He handles the occasional foreign phrase and title with ease. The footnotes occasionally interrupt the flow of the narrative, but this is a small drawback to overall enjoyment. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile