Jack El-Hai

“Relying heavily upon Freeman’s notes, letters, and journals, El-Hai reconstructs the life of a man whose main mission, aside from personal glory, was to help the helpless… Driven, egotistical, brilliant,…

“A story of desperation among thousands of patients, families, clinicians and policymakers struggling to manage a population seemingly crippled by illnesses for which there was no help. It is also…

“One of the many virtues of El-Hai’s text is the rich detail he provides about Freeman’s life and ideas. His readers will thus be able to judge Walter Freeman for…

“In The Lobotomist, Jack El-Hai’s lively biography, Freeman comes across as a classic American type, a do-gooder and a go-getter with a bit of the huckster thrown in.”

“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…