A Fortunate Man
The Story of a Country Doctor
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · March 25, 1997
In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves.
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- Who it’s for
- A close study of country medicine opens into questions about care, mortality, and human worth.
- Themes
- Doctors’ roles in society, Patient humanity amid illness, The value of human life
- Pacing
- Reflective
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves.
Continue reading
In the impoverished rural community in which he works, John Sassall tend the maimed, the dying, and the lonely. He is not only the dispenser of cures but the repository of memories. And as Berger and Mohr follow Sassall about his rounds, they produce a book whose careful detail broadens into a meditation on the value we assign a human life. First published thirty years ago, A Fortunate Man remains moving and deeply relevant--no other book has offered such a close and passionate investigation of the roles doctors play in their society. "In contemporary letters John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience." --Susan Sontag
Care and Conscience
A close study of country medicine opens into questions about care, mortality, and human worth.
Come here for
- Thoughtful social observation grounded in the work of a country doctor
- A humane view of illness, loneliness, and the fear of death
Expect
- Careful detail that widens into medical philosophy
- A reflective account of how doctors meet their society
Where it sits
| Doctor-Patient Relations | 74% |
|---|---|
| Lives in Medicine | 24% |
| Medical Ethics | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Primary Care
- Doctor-Patient Relations
- Rural Life
- Authors
- John Berger
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- March 25, 1997
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Doctors’ roles in society · Patient humanity amid illness · The value of human life
- Reading lane
- Primary Care