Description: Great Minds in Despair traces how the political climate of Nazism and forced migration of swathes of Jewish and oppositional scientists, physicians, and health care researchers from German-speaking countries influenced the development of neuroscience in North America during and after World War II.
Brief description: Frank W. Stahnisch is professor of history and holds the Alberta Medical Foundation / Hannah Professorship in the History of Medicine and Health Care at the University of Calgary.
Review Quotes: "Stahnisch complements and extends [previous historians'] work on German-speaking neuroscientists in the Nazi era by considering the fortunes of those who were forced to leave Europe for Canada and the United States. The biographies of these 367 men and women reveal difficulties in obtaining permission to work, the niche status of the discipline, and their long-lasting personal trauma. Nonetheless, these scholars transformed practices in the field, found fruitful interdisciplinary connections, and produced pioneering results. Great Minds in Despair should be on the shelf of every research library. Highly recommended." Choice