Dr. Harry L. Kozol, a man trained in both law and medicine, was a neurologist who was considered as one of the nation's top experts in the field of brain disorders. During his career, he became known for his work in forensic psychiatry as well as the field of neuropsychiatry which continues to evolve and gain further interest today. While Dr. Kozol spent his life assessing and diagnosing his patients, as he approached his 90s he made a life-changing diagnosis, except this time his patient was actually him. The diagnosis? Dementia.
In this touching and honest memoir, Dr. Kozol's son Jonathan, chronicles his father's life, and particularly his journey with Alzheimer's disease. Through the novel, one also experiences the reactions, tensions, and heart-wrenching emotions family members and especially caregivers experience as they watch their loved ones deteriorate in front of their eyes.
Recommended For: Caregivers, families affected by dementia and Alzhiemer's disease, family physicians and those interested in seniors mental health
In this touching and honest memoir, Dr. Kozol's son Jonathan, chronicles his father's life, and particularly his journey with Alzheimer's disease. Through the novel, one also experiences the reactions, tensions, and heart-wrenching emotions family members and especially caregivers experience as they watch their loved ones deteriorate in front of their eyes.
Recommended For: Caregivers, families affected by dementia and Alzhiemer's disease, family physicians and those interested in seniors mental health
Overview
There are few writers of conscience who write as beautifully as Jonathan Kozol. Departing from the South Bronx and turning his sensitive eye to his own life and legacy, The Theft of Memory is Kozol's most personal book to date, as it explores the life of his father, Harry.
Dr. Harry L. Kozol was a nationally-renowned neurologist whose work helped establish the emerging fields of forensic psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. He was a remarkable clinician with unusual capacity to diagnose and identify neurological and psychotic illnesses in highly complicated and sophisticated people, including well-known artists, writers, and intellectuals. Notably, in Eugene O'Neill's last years, the playwright moved to Boston so that he could live close to Kozol's father's office.
In addition to his successful private practice in Boston, Kozol operated in a grim arena marked by extreme violence. But while his role as a forensic expert placed him in the public eye for high-profile criminal defendants such as Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler) and Patty Hearst, he was--as his son articulates--"a healer of tormented people, not their judge, not their interrogator."
With the same lyricism and clarity that have defined Kozol's acclaimed work on education for decades, The Theft of Memory intimately describes Harry's vibrant life, the challenges following his self-diagnosis of Alzheimer's, and the evolution of their relationship throughout.
This unique biography will have a long shelf life as a moving portrait of an extraordinary man, a window into the heart of one of our nation's foremost education activists, and a frank examination of how we come to terms with caregiving (www.goodreads.com).
For more information about this novel check out:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com//life/health-and-fitness/health/alzheimers-depicted-memory-fades-but-life-goes-on/article25146389/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe
There are few writers of conscience who write as beautifully as Jonathan Kozol. Departing from the South Bronx and turning his sensitive eye to his own life and legacy, The Theft of Memory is Kozol's most personal book to date, as it explores the life of his father, Harry.
Dr. Harry L. Kozol was a nationally-renowned neurologist whose work helped establish the emerging fields of forensic psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. He was a remarkable clinician with unusual capacity to diagnose and identify neurological and psychotic illnesses in highly complicated and sophisticated people, including well-known artists, writers, and intellectuals. Notably, in Eugene O'Neill's last years, the playwright moved to Boston so that he could live close to Kozol's father's office.
In addition to his successful private practice in Boston, Kozol operated in a grim arena marked by extreme violence. But while his role as a forensic expert placed him in the public eye for high-profile criminal defendants such as Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler) and Patty Hearst, he was--as his son articulates--"a healer of tormented people, not their judge, not their interrogator."
With the same lyricism and clarity that have defined Kozol's acclaimed work on education for decades, The Theft of Memory intimately describes Harry's vibrant life, the challenges following his self-diagnosis of Alzheimer's, and the evolution of their relationship throughout.
This unique biography will have a long shelf life as a moving portrait of an extraordinary man, a window into the heart of one of our nation's foremost education activists, and a frank examination of how we come to terms with caregiving (www.goodreads.com).
For more information about this novel check out:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com//life/health-and-fitness/health/alzheimers-depicted-memory-fades-but-life-goes-on/article25146389/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe
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