{"product_id":"a-heart-afire-isbn-9780262048521","title":"A Heart Afire","description":"\u003cb\u003eA deeply compelling biography of the pioneering children’s heart doctor Helen Taussig, who helped start heart surgery and became a global force against preventable suffering.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Heart Afire\u003c\/i\u003e, Patricia Meisol renders a moving portrait of the indomitable pediatrician and global patient activist Helen Taussig (1898–1986), who famously gathered and publicized evidence linking thalidomide to birth defects, leading to US drug safety laws. Taussig also developed the Blalock-Taussig shunt (along with Alfred Blalock) for infants with congenital heart defects. Spanning Taussig’s childhood in Boston, her struggle with dyslexia, her progressive hearing loss, her research contributions, and the founding of her own fledgling children’s heart clinic, this book chronicles Taussig’s ambition, tenacity, and formidable work ethic. As Meisol shows, Taussig not only saved lives, but also set a bold precedent for other women doctors in the twentieth century, who were largely excluded from medicine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeticulously researched and intimately told, \u003ci\u003eA Heart Afire \u003c\/i\u003eis unique in its use of a fifty-year-long campaign by Taussig’s followers for a worthy memorial portrait and shows how views of women doctors have evolved. Meisol reveals Taussig as an authentic American hero, one who embodies the Emersonian ethic of developing oneself, following the processes of nature, and serving the public. A fiercely independent thinker, Taussig infused herself and her ideas into the medical culture, paving the way not only for other professional women but also for patients then and now to advocate for themselves. Offering an indispensable look at health care as a universal human right, \u003ci\u003eA Heart Afire\u003c\/i\u003e is a beacon and a blueprint for creating a more just and compassionate world of medicine.Preface xi\u003cbr\u003e1 The Woman in White 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Digging for Clams 5\u003cbr\u003e3 Hearts in the Bathtub 21\u003cbr\u003e4 Little Choice 29\u003cbr\u003e5 Lessons from Children (1930-1933) 39\u003cbr\u003e6 Breakdown and Breakthrough 55\u003cbr\u003e7 Naked on the Beach 67\u003cbr\u003e8 Go Where You Are Wanted 83\u003cbr\u003e9 On the Precipice 95\u003cbr\u003e10 Convincing Blalock 105\u003cbr\u003e11 The Dawn of Modern Heart Surgery 121\u003cbr\u003e12 Paper Fight 135\u003cbr\u003e13 Patients Flock to Baltimore 147\u003cbr\u003e14 Hovering 161\u003cbr\u003e15 Map to the New World 171\u003cbr\u003e16 A House of Her Own 177\u003cbr\u003e17 A Chess Game 191\u003cbr\u003e18 The End of Rheumatic Fever 205\u003cbr\u003e19 On Her Own Again 211\u003cbr\u003e20 Dousing the Fire 225\u003cbr\u003e21 Gifts from the Heart 237\u003cbr\u003e22 Can Suffering Be Prevented? 245\u003cbr\u003e23 If They had Seen What She had Seen 259\u003cbr\u003e24 Portrait of a Physician 281\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments 303\u003cbr\u003eNotes 307\u003cbr\u003eIndex 337“An enormous work—and, indeed, achievement—covering a life that explores most of the twentieth century. This impressive piece of research is not just about one woman, but also about the health of a nation and global developments in science and medicine.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Claire Brock, Associate Professor, University of Leicester; author of \u003ci\u003eBritish Women Surgeons and Their Patients, 1860–1918\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A masterfully told story. Patricia Meisol’s exciting and entertaining account of Helen Brooke Taussig’s achievements is accessible for a general readership and will interest historians and doctors too.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Thomas Schlich, James McGill Professor in the History of Medicine, McGill University; coeditor of \u003ci\u003eTechnological Change in Modern Surgery\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Exquisitely told with a penetrating eye for detail and the telling anecdote, Patricia Meisol’s biography of Helen Taussig is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of medicine and the twentieth-century struggles of women to break through the profession’s glass ceiling. What emerges from these pages is nothing less than the birth of modern heart surgery.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Jonathan Bor, \u003ci\u003eThe Baltimore Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePatricia Meisol is a narrative nonfiction writer and formal journalist who has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize multiple times. She previously served in the US Department of Health and Human Services.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304864174309,"sku":"NP9780262048521","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262048521.jpg?v=1767720519","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-heart-afire-isbn-9780262048521","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}