In this collection of biographies, Flexner combines curious medical lore with the interest of little-known facts of early American history. The scientists he profiles are not household names, but are well known to doctors: Morgan, who founded the first medical school in America and, fighting beside Washington, was ruined by the petty politics of the Revolution; McDowell, who, although on the fringe of the wilderness, dared the operation that prepared the way for all abdominal surgery; Rush, the equivocal personality who, for better or worse, dominated American medicine for more than 50 years; Beaumont, who, saving a life, won a living laboratory; Drake, who brought modern medicine to the new West; Long and Morton, who banished pain from surgery and earned it for themselves. All these men are honoured in their profession today. Flexner documents their lives with sympathy and humour and brings to the forefront the contributions they made to their profession and their country.