Synopses & Reviews
The only full biography of Benjamin Rush, an extraordinary Founding Father and America's leading physician of the Colonial era
While Benjamin Rush appears often and meaningfully in biographies about John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, this legendary man is presented as little more than a historical footnote. Yet, he was a propelling force in what culminated in the Declaration of Independence, to which he was a cosigner.
Rush was an early agitator for independence, a member of the First Continental Congress, and one of the leading surgeons of the Continental Army during the early phase of the American Revolution. He was an constant and indefatigable adviser to the foremost figures of the American Revolution, notably George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.
Even if he had not played a major role in our country's creation, Rush would have left his mark in history as an eminent physician and a foremost social reformer in such areas as medical teaching, treatment of the mentally ill (he is considered the Father of American Psychiatry), international prevention of yellow fever, establishment of public schools, implementation of improved education for women, and much more.
For readers of well-written biographies, Brodsky has illuminated the life of one of America's great and overlooked revolutionaries.
Synopsis
Praise for
The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York:
"A tribute....Brodsky is fluid and helpfully clear."
- The New York Review of Books
"A vivid portrait of La Guardia the man."
- The Boston Globe
"Both La Guardia the man and the politician come alive in this absorbing biography."
- Booklist
"A fitting memorial: solid, well-researched, and full of ably reconstructed plot turns, worthy of a place alongside Caro's The Power Broker."
- Kirkus Review
Praise for Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character:
"Balanced, readable, and worthwhile."
- Library Journal
"Engaging and persuasively argued, this serves as an excellent introduction to Cleveland and his world."
- Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Praise for
The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York:
"A tribute....Brodsky is fluid and helpfully clear."
- The New York Review of Books
"A vivid portrait of La Guardia the man."
- The Boston Globe
"Both La Guardia the man and the politician come alive in this absorbing biography."
- Booklist
"A fitting memorial: solid, well-researched, and full of ably reconstructed plot turns, worthy of a place alongside Caro's The Power Broker."
- Kirkus Review
Praise for Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character:
"Balanced, readable, and worthwhile."
- Library Journal
"Engaging and persuasively argued, this serves as an excellent introduction to Cleveland and his world."
- Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Alyn Brodsky is the author of several biographies, including
The Great Mayor and
Grover Cleveland, and was also the Editorial Director of two multi-volume encyclopedias, one on American history, the other on the Bible. He has lectured on history and classical music, served as a combat correspondent and feature writer for
Pacific Stars & Stripes, and has been a book critic and columnist for a number of U.S. newspapers. He lives in Miami Beach, Florida where he is at work on his next book.