A recent essay in The New York Times book review section (Nehring
C. "Books make you a boring person." June 27, 2004) suggested
that, perhaps, we read too much. Although the thrust of the essay was that the
quality of our reading might be jeopardized by the quantity of our reading, if
we consider our obligations to read The Journal of Bone and Joint
Surgery and the several other professional journals to which we
subscribe, there might be some truth to that assertion. How then, could one
recommend reading another book, particularly a book that may require a little
effort to procure? (Make your check payable to the Clendening History of
Medicine Library, University of Kansas, and send it to: Greystone Press, P.O.
Box 411877, Kansas City, Missouri 64141-1877).
First of all, the book is small and can be read in one or two evenings.
Secondly, the book could serve as a guide for a young surgeon wishing to
advance an academic career, and thirdly, it is a fitting reminiscence for
older surgeons who either knew Dr. Peltier personally or knew of him. This
book is everything a biography should be—inspiring, informative, and
enjoyable. It was lovingly written and meticulously annotated by Janolyn Lo
Vecchio, Dr. Peltier's administrative assistant and the residency coordinator
at the University of Arizona; Fred Reckling, MD, a Peltier trainee who
ultimately succeeded Dr. Peltier as Chairman of Orthopaedics at the University
of Kansas; and Fred's wife, JoAnn, an intensive care nurse who has worked with
him on other writing projects. A foreword by Robert Volz, MD, is also quite
interesting, particularly in describing some of the tribulations in getting an
orthopaedic department started at the new medical school in Arizona.
"Onward and upward" was a favorite expression used by Dr.
Peltier to encourage residents, staff, family, and friends. It is a paraphrase
of a line from "The Present Crisis," by James Russell Lowell
(1844): "They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of
Truth." Dr. Peltier's career trajectory was exactly that—upward
and onward. He survived tumultuous times at the University of Minnesota, where
he trained in both general surgery and orthopaedics and remained on the
faculty as acting head of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery. He then became
Chairman of Orthopaedics at the University of Kansas and, finally, at the
University of Arizona, where he established and developed a strong Section of
Orthopaedic Surgery in a "start-up" medical school.
Under the tutelage of Owen Wangensteen at the University of Minnesota, Dr.
Peltier developed a strong interest in research. He was selected as a Markle
Scholar while he was a resident, an honor that he continued to hold throughout
his career. By the end of his career, he had amassed a compendium of nearly
200 published books and papers, all of which have been listed in this
bibliography. The listing of his publications concerning the history of
medicine is, by itself, worth the price of the book. His background in general
surgery as well as orthopaedics led him to the study of trauma, an area in
which his most noteworthy contributions were concerned with fat embolism.
Stories related to this topic and stories concerning his somewhat
controversial use of plaster of Paris to fill defects and cavities in bones
are interestingly detailed in the book.
Dr. Peltier was enthusiastic about the history of medicine and wrote many
papers on a variety of historical subjects. In 1979, he was appointed as the
Classics Editor of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, in
which capacity he selected and described a classic paper and author for
virtually every issue until his death. His fluency in French and German
allowed him to translate articles in these languages and thus broadened the
appeal of many of the symposia in that journal. Two of his books,
Fractures. A History and Iconography of Their Treatment (1990) and
Orthopedics: A History and Iconography (1993), are classics in their
own right. A tantalizing extra in Onward and Upward is the inclusion
of several small etchings of "cripples," produced by Hieronymus
Bosch, which had earlier appeared in Orthopedics: A History and
Iconography.
Leonard Peltier was truly a man for all seasons. His biography is
recommended as a source of inspiration for medical students and residents, a
vehicle of encouragement for established surgeons, and a wellspring of source
material on historical matters for scholars and historians.