Posts by Jack El-Hai
Fighting the Legend of the “Lobotomobile”
Many people believe that the developer of the most dreaded form of psychiatric surgery traveled America in a camper van that he slyly called his “lobotomobile.” It’s a myth. I…
Read MoreGetting Started as a Writer of History
Journalism is the first rough draft of history, Alan Barth declared. Or is it the reverse, that history is just journalism, as Joseph Campbell mischievously asserted? Either way, there’s much…
Read MoreThe attack of the leopard frogs
My new Discover Magazine article about the massive Oconto frog invasion of 1952 is currently behind a paywall, but here’s a teaser. References (3) References allow you to track sources for this…
Read MoreScreening police officers before they shoot
When the police shoot unarmed citizens, we can’t help asking about the judgment, communication abilities, and emotional health of the involved law enforcement officers. Would other people in uniform have…
Read MoreXYY Men
Geneticists have long argued about the effects of having an extra male chromosome, a condition found in 1 of 1,000 men A battered paperback entitled The XYY Man, by Kenneth Royce, leans…
Read MoreAmerica’s first suicide bombing
Few people know that the first suicide bombing in U.S. history — and perhaps only the second such attack in world history — took place in New York City 110…
Read MoreA Political Warning from the Past
Decades after a U.S. Army psychiatrist who studied the Nazis predicted a threat to American democracy, we should remember his fears when we vote. Psychiatrist and U.S. Army Lt. Col.…
Read MoreHunting for Hermits
How do you track down a bunch of hermits to interview? I recently needed an answer to that question when an editor at The Saturday Evening Post asked me to write…
Read MoreThe Nazi and the Psychiatrist wins 2014 Minnesota Book Award
My recent release The Nazi and the Psychiatrist won the Minnesota Book Award in the general nonfiction category at the 26th annual awards ceremony on April 5, 2014. The event, organized by…
Read MoreA set of dusty boxes: The arresting origins of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist
My book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist has just been published. It had strange beginnings. When one dead man passes you a tip about another, you pay attention. Years ago, while researching…
Read More