The Lobotomist with Jack El-Hai

8th May 2007

Jack El-Hai is the author of “The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and his Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness.” It traces the life of Dr. Walter Freeman (pictured above), who popularized the lobotomy. The technique was innovative in its time, but Freeman continued performing it long after more effective pharmaceutical treatments […]

Episode notes


Jack El-Hai is the author of “The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and his Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness.” It traces the life of Dr. Walter Freeman (pictured above), who popularized the lobotomy. The technique was innovative in its time, but Freeman continued performing it long after more effective pharmaceutical treatments were available. Nonetheless, Freeman was an innovator in treating the physical causes of mental illness.

Please share your thoughts on this program on our forum!

Download This Show (MP3)
Subscribe in iTunes
Review the show in iTunes
Please Donate to Support the Show

Listen to This Week’s Show

Please allow our low-bandwidth server a little time after you click “play”

Our intersititial music is provided by Dan Wally

The Sound of Young America is underwritten in part by Project Breakout

You might also enjoy these shows:
Yuval Taylor on “Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music”
Wonder with Michael Ivins of the Flaming Lips and New Yorker writer Lawrence Weschler
Elements of Style with illustrator Maira Kalman and author George Pelecanos

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow
Video Editor

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

If you would like to pitch a guest for Bullseye, please CLICK HERE. You can also follow Bullseye on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. For more about Bullseye and to see a list of stations that carry it, please click here.

Get in touch with the show

People

Senior Producer

Producer

Maximum Fun Producer

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Video Editor

How to listen

Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!

Share this show

New? Start here...