White Matter: A Memoir of Family and Medicine is the story of a Bostonian close-knit Jewish working-class family of five sisters and one brother and the impact they and their next generation endured due to the popularization of lobotomy during the 20th century. When Janet Sternburg's grandfather abandoned his family, and her uncle, Bennie, became increasing mentally ill, Sternburg's mother and aunts had to bind together and make crucial decisions for the family's survival. Two of the toughest familial decisions they made ...
Read More
White Matter: A Memoir of Family and Medicine is the story of a Bostonian close-knit Jewish working-class family of five sisters and one brother and the impact they and their next generation endured due to the popularization of lobotomy during the 20th century. When Janet Sternburg's grandfather abandoned his family, and her uncle, Bennie, became increasing mentally ill, Sternburg's mother and aunts had to bind together and make crucial decisions for the family's survival. Two of the toughest familial decisions they made were to have Bennie undergo a lobotomy to treat his schizophrenia and later to have youngest sister, Francie, undergo the same procedure to treat severe depression. Both heartrending decisions were largely a result of misinformation disseminated that popularized and legitimized lobotomy. Woven into Sternburg's story are notable figures that influenced the family as well as the entire medical field. In 1949, Egas Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing the lobotomy, and in the three years that followed his acceptance of the award, more Americans underwent the surgery than during the previous 14 years. By the early 1950s, Walter Freeman developed an alternate technique for lobotomy, which he proselytized during his travels throughout the country in a van he dubbed the "Lobotomobile." The phrase "prefrontal lobotomy" was common currency growing up in Janet Sternburg's family and in White Matter she details this scientific discovery that disconnects the brain's white matter, leaving a person without feelings, and its undeserved legitimization and impact on her family. She writes as a daughter consumed with questions about her mother and aunts--all well meaning women who decided their siblings' mental health issues would be best treated with lobotomies. By the late 1970s, the surgical practice was almost completely out of favor, but its effects left patients and their families with complicated legacies as well as a stain on American medical history. Every generation has to make its own medical choices based on knowledge that will inevitably come to seem inadequate in the future. How do we live with our choices when we see their consequences?
Read Less
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $1.94, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. . All orders9781501153198 guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofi t job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $3.21, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $5.49, good condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. ATTN: EX-LIBRARY COPY>>> Paperback 100% of proceeds go to charity! Good condition with all pages in tact. Item shows signs of use and may have cosmetic defects.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $6.00, very good condition, Sold by Book Alley rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pasadena, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $8.00, like new condition, Sold by Gils Book Loft rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Binghamton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books/ Literary Arts.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $31.36, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
Add this copy of White Matter: a Memoir of Family and Medicine to cart. $63.63, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Hawthorne Books.
