Expected Miracles: Surgeons at Work
"Joan Cassell's book is fair-minded and unsparing. A meticulous dissection of The Surgeon by an observer whose gaze is as sharp and precise as a scalpel. For me there was a shock of recognition on every page."—Richard Selzer, M.D., Yale Medical School (retired), and author ofMortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of SurgeryandLetters to a Young Doctor"The most explicit account I have read about what surgeons do; what their experiences are like; what they are like; what they think about their successes and failures; and what an astonishing variety of experiences of being a surgeon there are. Written with great clarity and considerable grace.... I hope this book will become assigned reading for surgeons, surgical residents, medical students with interest in surgery, surgical nurses and technicians, and anyone who has to undergo a surgical procedure. A fine achievement."—Arthur Kleinman, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University"Joan Cassell gives us valuable insight into the mores, the high professional standards—as well as the lapse in and abuse of these standards—and the 'esprit de corps' of the 'fellowship of surgeons.' And she demonstrates that... this sub-profession does indeed form a Fellowship whose culture it is important for every prospective patient to understand."—James W. Fernandez, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago