Best Selling Books by Michael Bliss

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, we have become accustomed to medical breakthroughs and conditioned to assume that, regardless of illnesses, doctors almost certainly will be able to help—not just by diagnosing us and alleviating our pain, but by actually treating or even curing diseases, and significantly improving our lives. For most of human history, however, that was far from the case, as veteran medical historian Michael Bliss explains in The Making of Modern Medicine. Focusing on a few key moments in the transformation of medical care, Bliss reveals the way that new discoveries and new approaches led doctors and patients alike to discard fatalism and their traditional religious acceptance of suffering in favor of a new faith in health care and in the capacity of doctors to treat disease. He takes readers in his account to three turning points—a devastating smallpox outbreak in Montreal in 1885, the founding of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School, and the discovery of insulin—and recounts the lives of three crucial figures—researcher Frederick Banting, surgeon Harvey Cushing, and physician William Osler—turning medical history into a fascinating story of dedication and discovery. Compact and compelling, this searching history vividly depicts and explains the emergence of modern medicine—and, in a provocative epilogue, outlines the paradoxes and confusions underlying our contemporary understanding of disease, death, and life itself.

Here is the first biography to appear in fifty years of Harvey Cushing, a giant of American medicine and without doubt the greatest figure in the history of brain surgery. Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushing''s professional and his personal life in remarkable detail. Bliss paints an engaging portrait of a man of ambition, boundless, driving energy, a fanatical work ethic, a penchant for self-promotion and ruthlessness, more than a touch of egotism and meanness, and an enormous appetite for life. Equally important, Bliss traces the rise of American surgery as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. The book describes how Cushing, working in the early years of the 20th century, developed remarkable new techniques that let surgeons open the skull, expose the brain, and attack tumors--all with a much higher rate of success than previously known. Indeed, Cushing made the miraculous in surgery an everyday event, as he and his team compiled an astonishing record of treating more than two thousand tumors. This is the definite Cushing biography, an epic narrative of high surgical adventure, capturing the highs and lows of an extraordinary life.

One of Canada''s best-known and most-honoured biographers turns to the raw material of his own life. A university professor, prolific scholar, public intellectual, and frank critic of the world, Michael Bliss describes a life that has taken him from small-town Ontario to international recognition for his books in Canadian and medical history.

William Osler, who was a brilliant, innovative teacher and a scholar of the natural history of disease, revolutionized the art of practicing medicine at the bedside of his patients. He was idolized by two generations of medical students and practitioners for whom he came to personify the ideal doctor. But much more than a physician, Osler was a fiercely intellegent humanist. Meticulously researched and accessibly written, William Osler: A Life in Medicine brings to life both a fascinating man and the formative age of twentieth-century medicine.

Frederick Banting was thirty-one when he received the Nobel Prize for his part in the discovery of insulin. He was catapulted to instant fame, for which he was neither personally nor professionally prepared. Set up as head of his own research institute by a grateful government, he struggled fruitlessly to duplicate his first triumph. His marriage to a beautiful socialite ended in a scandal that rocked Toronto, and he returned to work and painting to dull his frustration. He died in a mysterious plane crash; a new preface to this edition discusses recent findings about the crash. Michaeal Bliss''s highly acclaimed biography explores the life of a scientist who during his lifetime was the most famous of all Canadians, but who in his private life stands revealed as a passionate, troubled man, in many ways the victim of his own fame.

Joseph Flavelle was one of the most influential businessmen in Canada''s history. This intimate biography of the man is also a history of the origins and development of big business in Canada, of the corporations and institutions that became an integral part of Canadian life during Jospeh Flavelle''s lifetime. His career is a Canadian business epic - his story is also the story of Canada Packers, Simpsons, the Bank of Commerce, National Trust, and half a dozen other major coporations that continue to influence Canada today. When it was first published in 1978, A Canadian Millionaire quickly becaome one of the most honoured books of its kind. For it, Michael Bliss was awarded the Macdonald Price in Canadian history, the University of British Columbia Medal for Biography, the City of Toronto Book Award, the Toronto Historical Board Award of Merit, and the Francois Garneau prize. Today it is recognized as a classic in Canadian biography.

1998. Gift from the publisher.

Originally a Hong Kong-based director, John Woo is now considered one of the ten most successful directors working in American films, receiving world-wide attention for his highly stylized violence in films such as The Killer (1989), Hard-Boiled (1992), Face/Off (1997), and Mission Impossible 2 (2000). While Woo is widely regarded as a master action director, scant attention has been paid to the manner in which Woo''s films reflect the director''s religious and ethical concerns. Through an examination of representative films from the director''s Hong Kong and American periods, Michael Bliss demonstrates that Woo should be regarded as a predominantly religious director, in whose films action is the vehicle by virtue of which a concern with spirituality is dramatized. Contains a chapter on Chinese opera tradition as relates to Woo''s films, an exclusive interview with John Woo, and a complete filmography.

In the first book to critically examine each of the fourteen feature films Sam Peckinpah directed during his career, Michael Bliss stresses the persistent moral and structural elements that permeate Peckinpah’s work. By examining the films in great detail, Bliss makes clear the moral framework of temptation and redemption with which Peckinpah was concerned while revealing the director’s attention to narrative. Bliss shows that each of Peckinpah’s protagonists is involved with attempting, in the words of Ride the High Country’s Steve Judd, "to enter my house justified." The validity of this systematic method is clearly demonstrated in the chapter devoted to The Wild Bunch. By enumerating the doublings and triplings of action and dialogue found in the film, Bliss underscores its symbolic and structural complexity. Beginning the chapters treating Junior Bonner and The Getaway with analyses of their important title sequences, Bliss shows how these frequently disregarded pieces present in miniature the major moral and narrative concerns of the films. In his chapter on The Osterman Weekend, Bliss makes apparent Peckinpahs awareness of and concern with the self-reflexive nature of filmmaking itself. Bliss shows that like John Ford, Peckinpah moved from optimism to pessimism. The films of the director’s early period, from The Deadly Companions to Cable Hogue, support the romantic ideals of adventure and camaraderie and affirm a potential for goodness in America. In his second group of films, which begins with Straw Dogs and ends with Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, both heroes and hope have vanished. It is only in The Osterman Weekend that Peckinpah appears finally to have renewed his capacity for hope, allowing his career to close in a positive way.

"What we see, and what we seem, are but a dream, a dream within a dream." Michael Bliss views Miranda''s voice-over at the beginning of Picnic at Hanging Rock as so pivotal in explaining the films of Peter Weir that he borrows her words to create the title of his own study of the Australian filmmaker''s work. Bliss views Weir as an artist whose values are rooted in the realm of the dream, of the unconscious. Surrealistic in technique, Weir avoids the pedestrian assurances of a material realm in favor of an irresolution that, while potentially frustrating, is nonetheless for him a more truthful representation of what he considers reality. For Weir, as for Plato, Bliss demonstrates, "empirical reality is nothing more than a shadow of what is real." Bliss also considers Weir''s heritage. Australian cinema, Bliss explains, is characterized by melodramatic narratives born of a desire to see good and evil portrayed in striking opposition. Weir, for example, dramatizes the contradictory forces of light versus darkness, reason versus mystery, and rationality versus magic in such films as Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave. This melodramatic emphasis is evident as well in the polarized characterizations in such films as Witness, Dead Poets Society, and The Truman Show. Bliss also discusses Weir''s use of another staple of Australian cinema-- "mateship," the celebration of the bond between male companions. But by making self-knowledge dependent on action involving one''s friends, Weir gives mateship a new meaning. Moreover, like other Australian filmmakers, Weir emphasizes the starkness of the Australian landscape, which functions either as a hazard or a deadly challenge, at least until American mythology caused him to see nature in a more positive light. Also prominent in Weir''s films is an Australian spirit of rebellion coupled with the Aussie ambivalence toward all aspects of British culture. To help explain Weir''s films, Bliss looks to Freud and Jung, whom Weir has studied, and also to two other prominent purveyors of myth and archetype, Northrop Frye and Joseph Campbell. Virtually all Weir characters struggle toward a new mode of awareness, a psychological awareness based on archetypal truths. Many of his films involve archetypal journeys heading through conflict to spiritual unity. Weir''s quest is to find out what we really know and how we know what we know.

Out of more than 180 science fiction films produced in the United States between 1950 and 1959, twenty were concerned with the notion of an invasion. Of these, a select number used the invasions as metaphors of issues that were of importance to America at the time, such as assaults upon individuality and marriage and debates about the supremacy of the human race. The invasion may be real (The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds), dreamed (Invaders from Mars), or the result of a mental breakdown, as seems to be the case in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Real or not, all of these massive disturbances to the status quo convey the same anxiety: In the 1950s, many Americans felt that things in their world weren’t quite right, and this sense of unease was expressed in the country’s art, notably these films. In Invasions USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, Michael Bliss examines movies that stripped away the veneer of normality during a decade often portrayed as the last innocent period in American history. From a boy’s nightmares about his alien-controlled parents and a young woman’s fears that her fiancé has been replaced by an emotionless alien to an extraterrestrial visitor who comes to warn mankind about its self-destructive ways, the stories of these films offer a variety of messages, both subtle and overt. With detailed discussions and analyses of the films in question, this book examines a unique group of movies with profound messages. By exploring depictions of insecurities—whether personal or political—Bliss shows how science fiction films spoke to American audiences deeply troubled by their circumstances. Invasions USA will appeal to science fiction buffs and film aficionados interested in this significant phenomenon in movie and cultural history.

An expanded and updated study of the thematic concerns and the underlying humanism and morality in Scorsese''s films. Contains individual chapters on fifteen Scorsese films, the most complete Scorsese filmography available, and a host of illustrations.

A historical study of the Federal Music Project (FMP) investigates the paradoxical mission of employing popular musicians during the depression and "raising" musical tastes by emphasizing European classical traditions. Bindas (history, Kent State U.) reveals the obvious tensions between FMP leadership and its musicians, particularly the racial and ethnic segregation perpetuated by its policies. However, in an even-handed treatment, the project''s successes in bringing music to millions of listeners is also highlighted. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

One of America’s most beloved comic duos, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have entertained generations of viewers with their unique, heartwarming brand of slapstick comedy. The pair’s teamwork and friendship set their films apart, softening both pratfalls and hardships, and earning them a cherished place in cinema history. From their first joint on-screen appearance in 1921’s The Lucky Dog through their work at the Hal Roach studios, their comic signature remained unique. But what made the films of Laurel and Hardy so enduring? In Laurel and Hardy’s Comic Catastrophes: Laughter and Darkness in the Features and Short Films, Michael Bliss illustrates why these films continue to make audiences laugh. Combining an appreciation for the pleasure that these films elicit with a critical examination of what made them work, Bliss first investigates the milieu in which the pair’s comedy takes place. The author then explores Stan and Ollie’s friendship and their troubled—and troubling—relationships with women. The book also features a detailed discussion of Stan Laurel’s approach to gag structure, while the remainder of the book focuses on many of the pair’s silent and sound films, such as Duck Soup, Pack Up Your Troubles, Chickens Come Home, and The Music Box. By delving into the pair’s films—including several neglected short films—in greater detail than any previous work, this volume provides readers with a fundamental understanding of Stan and Ollie’s universal appeal. Featuring an extensive filmography, Laurel and Hardy’s Comic Catastrophes will engage a wide audience, from film scholars to fans of humor everywhere.

Working paper comprising a historical survey of industrial policy trends in Canada since 1867 - beginning with early protectionism and resources development, discusses rising concern over unemployment, regional disparity and steady state economy, leading to increased state intervention. References.

"Das vorliegende Werk ist eine spannende Pflichtlektüre für Diabetologinnen und Diabetologen und alle an der Medizingeschichte interessierten Menschen mit und ohne Diabetes. Nur der akribischen Arbeit des Historikers Prof. Michael Bliss ist es zu verdanken, dass wir über die Geschichte der Entdeckung des Insulins korrekt informiert wurden. Zu schön glänzte bis dahin die Story, dass ein genialer junger Kriegsheld in wenigen Monaten das lebensrettende Insulin entdeckte und so als erster Kanadier mit Nobelpreis zum Nationalhelden wurde. Die Wahrheit war, dass Banting in konfus dokumentierten Versuchen zahllose Hunde opferte. Diese Herstellungsmethode für Insulin war viel zu kompliziert und unnötig. Erst dem Biochemiker Collip gelang es 1921/22, direkt aus der Bauspeicheldrüse brauchbares Insulin zu gewinnen. Bliss'' Arbeiten sind profund recherchiert und sein jetzt in einer sehr gut gelungenen deutschen Übersetzung von Dr. Robert Augustin vorliegendes Werk Die Entdeckung des Insulins ist ein spannend geschriebenes, herausragendes Buch der Medizingeschichte."

This document provides an overview of the history of the Medical Research Council of Canada in the 1990s, including MRC''s 1993 strategic plan, the budget reductions of 1995, and the creation of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In a brilliant, definitive history of one of the most significant and controversial medical events of modern times, award-winning historian Michael Bliss brings to light a bizarre clash of scientific personalities. When F. G. Banting and J. J. R. Macleod won the 1923 Nobel Prize for discovering and isolating insulin, Banting immediately announced that he was dividing his share of the prize with his young associate, C. H. Best. Macleod divided his share with a fourth member of the team, J. B. Collip. For the next sixty years medical opinion was intensely divided over the allotment of credit for the discovery of insulin. In resolving this controversy, Bliss also offers a wealth of new detail on such subjects as the treatment of diabetes before insulin and the life-and-death struggle to manufacture insulin.

Describes the events leading to the Confederation of various Canadian provinces to become the Dominion of Canada.

Le récit véridique de l''épidémie de variole qui fit plus de 3000 victimes, provoquant un désordre social qui opposa anglophones et francophones, catholiques et protestants, riches et pauvres. L''auteur, professeur d''histoire à l''Université de Toronto, nous permet "d''observer la vie d''une collectivité prise entre la tradition et la modernité, déchirée par la peur et l''ignorance, forcée de composer avec la fragilité humaine et la maladie."