A history of American medicine as seen through 5 generations of doctors in one American family.

In this poignant, deeply moving book, Dr. David Hellerstein traces five generations of American medicine--from the Civil War to the present day--as seen through the eyes of his unforgettable family.

"Rewarding reading...an artful blend of medical history and family memoir." (Kirkus Reviews)

"His remarkable family memoir is at once the remembrance of American medicine past and a hopeful sign of its future..." (Gerald Weissmann, MD)

"A marvel of family, medical, and personal history interwoven into a seamlesss saga I couldn't tear myself away from." (Sherwin Nuland, MD, author of How We Die)

From Chapter 5, The Golden Age:
It was September 6, 1944, and he was twenty-eight years old, commander of a medical detachment of twenty-three men assigned to the 40th Tank Battalion of the 7th Armored Division of General Patton's Third Army, stationed on the front lines in the town of Ste-Marie-aux-Chenes, France.
They had set up a temporary aid station in the cellar and first floor of a wrecked farmhouse. Across the stone floors lay American tank soldiers and infantrymen on stretchers, thirty of them, their bodies torn by shrapnel and gunshot, by mortar fire and deep burns. ...I can just imagine my father working among them...I can see the set of his jaw, his intent expression, the force of every gesture, and I can hear his voice angrily barking orders to the medics, and turning soothing and reassuring as he spoke to the wounded...

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