Benjamin Rush, M.D.: A Bibliographic Guide(Bibliographies and Indexes in American History)

Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) exerted a remarkably wide-ranging influence on the medical, political, and social life of the emerging American nation. He fulfilled the multiple roles of first American professor of chemistry, signer of the Declaration of Independence, foremost American physician, father of American psychiatry, pioneer abolitionist, educator, advocate of temperance, and proponent of prison reform. The success of these endeavors rested largely on the strength and size of his literary output, which was unparalleled by any of the other founding fathers. This bibliographic guide is the only work to identify all of Rush's published writings as well as hundreds of writings about him. The Introduction surveys Rush's published writings on a variety of topics and places them in their late 18th and early 19th century context. Part one provides a comprehensive chronological listing of Rush's published works, including articles, pamphlets, and books in all their editions. Part one also includes comments from Rush scholars on the nature and significance of many of the works, along with references to contemporary reviews. Extensive cross-references show the relationship between documents. Aids to locating the documents in their original, reprinted, and microtext forms are also provided. Part two lists over 500 publications about Rush and his role in American history. The work includes a title and general index to part one and an author and general index to part two.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Thomas A. Horrocks Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Method and Organization The Published Writings of Benjamin Rush Publications Relating to Benjamin Rush Title Index General Index Author Index General Index

About the Author :
Claire G. Fox is an independent scholar specializing in the history of medicine and veterinary medicine. Follwing the completion of her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Fox continued with her research at the Institute for the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. She is Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and is a member of both the American Association for the History of Medicine and the New York Academy of Sciences. Gordon L. Miller is a historian who specializes in environmental history and the history of science. He has taught at Milligan College and Drew University and is a former academic librarian. He is the author of The History of Science: An Annotated Bibliography (1992), and Wisdom of the Earth (1996). He is currently president of Green Rock Press. Jacquelyn C. Miller is assistant professor of early American history at Seattle University. Her current research deals with the social dimensions of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, and she is the author of Passions and Politics: The Multiple Meanings of Benjamin Rush's Treatment for Yellow Fever (1996).

Review :
Few men have had as great an impact on their country as Benjamin Rush, yet many have never heard of this influential doctor, who at the time of his death in 1813 was the most celebrated physician in the US. Not only was Rush famous for his work in epidemic diseases, especially yellow fever, he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a member of the Continental Congress, a prolific author, and was considered by many to be the father of American psychiatry. To facilitate research, the compilers of this guide have assembled materials written by Rush as well as those written about him. . . . This overview of Rush does much to discredit his detractors and show his wide-ranging influence on life in the formative years of the US. [E]asily intelligible to those for whose use [it] is intended . . . and has a system which explains itself and is always and constantly visible. This is an outstanding comprehensive bibliography of the venerable eighteenth-century Pennsylvania physician and statesman. . . . Consider this an essential guide for academic libraries.