Description: This study focuses on two critical figures in late eighteenth-century America-the physician Benjamin Rush and the journalist William Cobbett- as they clashed in one of the most important trials of post-revolutionary America, a libel trial that pitted medicine against the press...
Review Quotes: "In Law and Medicine in Revolutionary America, Linda Myrsiades links Americanism with professionalism and converts medical and legal history into a narrative of the nation. Marshalling a fascinating array of primary sources that includes trial records, press coverage, and personal correspondence, Myrsiades meticulously dissects the 1799 libel trial of Rush v Cobbett. By showing how its legal anatomy embodied the most pressing political and ethical questions of the emerging nation, Myrsiades makes a significant contribution to the study of medicine, law, and the humanities that will appeal to readers across a broad range of disciplines." --Cathrine O. Frank, University of New England