Dr. Benjamin Rush: Revolution, Madness And A Founding Father

Rush: Revolution, Madness, & Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father

The monumental life of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers
FINALIST FOR THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BOOK PRIZE • AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
By the time he was thirty, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment. As the new republic coalesced, he became a visionary writer and reformer; a medical pioneer whose insights and reforms revolutionized the treatment of mental illness; an opponent of slavery and prejudice by race, religion, or gender; an adviser to, and often the physician of, America’s first leaders; and “the American Hippocrates.” Rush reveals his singular life and towering legacy, installing him in the pantheon of our wisest and boldest Founding Fathers.

“Entertaining . . . Benjamin Rush has been undeservedly forgotten. In medicine . . . [and] as a political thinker, he was brilliant.”—The New Yorker
“Superb . . . reminds us eloquently, abundantly, what a brilliant, original man Benjamin Rush was, and how his contributions to . . . the United States continue to bless us all.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Perceptive . . . [a] readable reassessment of Rush’s remarkable career.”—The Wall Street Journal

Stephen Fried is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author who teaches at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. His books include the acclaimed biographies Rush: Revolution, Madness & Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father (finalist for the George Washington Book Prize), Appetite for America: Fred Harvey & the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time (NYTimes best seller), and Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia (inspired Emmy-winning HBO film "Gia"); as well as BITTER PILLS, THE NEW RABBI & HUSBANDRY.

He was also co-author, with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, of the NYTimes bestseller A Common Struggle and Profiles in Mental Health Courage.

A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award, Fried has written for Vanity Fair, Glamour, Washington Post Magazine, GQ, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, and Philadelphia magazine. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, author Diane Ayres.

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