Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushings professional and his personal life in remarkable detail. Bliss paints an engaging portrait of a man of ambition, boundless, driving energy, a fanatical work ethic, a penchant for self-promotion and ruthlessness, more than a touch of egotism and meanness, and an enormous appetite for life. Equally important, Bliss traces the rise of American surgery as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. The book describes how Cushing, working in the early years of the 20th century, developed remarkable new techniques that let surgeons open the skull, expose the brain, and attack tumors--all with a much higher rate of success than previously known.

This work includes Cushing's description of his own method of operating on the pituitary. He was an outstanding neurological surgeon and added much to our knowledgeof the pituitary body and its disorders.

William Osler (1849-1919) is widely regarded as one of the most influential physicians of the late 19th and early 20th century and a key figure in the history of medicine. Besides his research activities and his dedicated scientific work, Osler’s greatest contribution to the medical world has been the system of residency which he developed at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, thus introducing a new and deeply humanistic approach to the strictly scientific realm of traditional medicine. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), a former student and close friend of Osler’s and a pioneer of neurosurgery, has himself become an icon of modern medicine. He was one of the first physicians to use X-rays for diagnosing brain tumours and he developed revolutionary methods of blood pressure measurement. He also discovered Cushing’s syndrome, the first autoimmune disease identified in a human being. This monumental biography earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1926.

The Oxford Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is an objective and readable text that covers the full speciality of obstetrics and gynaecology. This comprehensive and rigorously referenced textbook will be a vital resource in print and online for all practising clinicians. Edited by a team of four leading figures in the field, whose clinical and scientific backgrounds collectively cover the whole spectrum of obstetrics and gynaecology with particular expertise in fetomaternal medicine and obstetrics, gynaecological oncology, urogynaecology, and reproductive medicine, the textbook helps inform and promote evidence-based practice and improve clinical outcomes worldwide across all facets of the discipline. The editors are supported by contributors who are internationally renowned specialists and ensure high quality and global perspective to the work. Larger sections on the Basics in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fetomaternal Medicine, Management of Labour, Gynaecological problems, and Gynaecological Oncology are complimented by specialist sections on areas such as Neonatal Care and Neonatal Problems, Reproductive Medicine, and Urogynaecology and Pelvic Floor Disorders to name a few. The evidence-based presentation of diagnostic and therapeutic methods is complemented in the text by numerous treatment algorithms, giving the reader the knowledge and tools needed for effective clinical practice. The Oxford Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is essential reading for obstetricians and gynaecologists, subspecialists, and trainees across the world.

A History of Neurosurgery is the first thorough book on the history of neurosurgery published since 1951. The book is organized around a specific historiographic framework that traces the advancement of the specialty. Included are chapters on ancient trepanation, Macewen's first use of the combined technologies of anesthesia, antisepsis and cortical localization in 1879 to plan and perform craniotomies, the emergence of Harvey Cushing's leadership, the evolution of modern neurosurgical techniques and technology and much more.

In his time the most famous physician in the world, Canadian-born William Osler (1849-1919) is still the best-known figure in the history of medicine. This new, definitive biography by Michael Bliss is the first full-scale life of Osler to appear since 1925. An award-winning medical historian, Bliss draws on many untapped sources to recreate Osler's life and medical times for a new generation of readers. Born at Bond Head, north of Toronto, Osler rose from obscurity to become the greatest medical teacher and writer in three countries. At Canada's McGill University, America's Johns Hopkins University, and finally as regius professor at Oxford, Osler was idolized by two generations of medical students and practitioners, for whom he came to personify the ideal doctor. His quest was to bring high standards and scientific methods into general practice in the medical world and to give teaching hospitals a solid place in the education of doctors. The publication of his book, The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892), established him as the authority of modern medicine, a position he held well into the new century. Osler was revered as the high priest of the advent of twentieth-century medicine. In this fine biography, Michael Bliss animates the epic quality of Osler's life - not only in telling his personal story, but in setting that story against the dramatic backdrop of the coming of modern medicine. Winner of the Jason A. Hannah Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of Canada and the Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine