DOCTOR DAN: PIONEER IN AMERICAN SURGERY

by Helen Buckler ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 1954

The story of Daniel Hale Williams, a star in the firmament of American medicine, combines the appeal of an endearing personality, the profession, and the struggle of a minority group to the heights. Daniel Williams bore a proud, mixed heritage -- his complexion would have enabled him to pass for white if his heart hadn't been loyal to the Negro cause. He became Doctor Dan through the backing of a man who took him as his son when Dan was simply bypassed by his selfish mother. From his studies at Chicago he went on to found the first interracial hospital, to modernize Freedmen's in Washington, to become a staff member of St. Luke's, but most of all to impart his surgical skill to patients and students. This skill brought him fame and love and also envy, and his story reveals the intrigues and betrayals of men such as Hall and Warfield who wanted acknowledgement and power. The young medical world, the attempt of Negroes to make a place for themselves in it, the growth of the profession of surgery (as we witness heart and Caesarean operations, etc.) is paramount in Doctor Dan's story. His personal life- his love of a woman whose mother forced her to marry white, his later unsatisfactory marriage, his friendships with other men of medicine -- are merged and almost eclipsed in the story of his work. An inspiring, humans book.

Pub Date: May 13, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown-A.M.P.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION