Jack El-Hai – Medium

Featured Book

The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

Physician Walter Freeman attempts to treat thousands of psychiatric patients needing help during the middle of the 20th century.

2007

Stories

Jack El-Hai

Tips on giving history talks

I’ve given many public talks about history — usually on topics connected to the subjects of my books. Speaking about history is an…

2 min readApr 18, 2024

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Tips on giving history talks

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Jack El-Hai

They’re trying to make me into a novelist!

I’ll have a new book coming out a year from now. Titled Face in the Mirror: A Surgeon, a Patient, and a Second Chance at Life, it tells the…

2 min readFeb 29, 2024

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They’re trying to make me into a novelist!

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Jack El-Hai

Transporting audiences to times past

A few years ago I spent an afternoon in Paris with a wonderful French TV crew at work on a documentary about the Nazi leader Hermann…

2 min readFeb 15, 2024

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Transporting audiences to times past

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Jack El-Hai

The past offers no legal protections for history writers

I sometimes joke that I like writing about history because dead people can’t sue for defamation and libel. But apparently, as public…

2 min readFeb 8, 2024

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The past offers no legal protections for history writers

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Jack El-Hai

The question nobody ever asks

I wish people would more often ask why I like to write about history. I don’t recall anyone ever asking me that question.

1 min readJan 19, 2024

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The question nobody ever asks

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Jack El-Hai

When the Best Books Aren’t

By my own unscientific but conservative estimate, 200,000 history books have been published in 2023. I have read nine of them. I doubt that…

2 min readDec 5, 2023

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When the Best Books Aren’t

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Jack El-Hai

Origins: The Case of the Autographed Corpse

Neglected files in a university archive illuminated a rich historical true-crime story

7 min readMar 21, 2023

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Origins: The Case of the Autographed Corpse

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Jack El-Hai

Tips on writing a book proposal

Here’s what I wish I knew when I first tried to write one

6 min readMar 16, 2023

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Tips on writing a book proposal

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Jack El-Hai

The Sad Fate of the Clipper Ships

Chapter 22 of The Clipper Ship Era (1910) by Arthur Hamilton Clark

10 min readMar 10, 2023

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The Sad Fate of the Clipper Ships

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Jack El-Hai

A town with two persons

The editor and the postmaster were its entire population

3 min readJan 28, 2023

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A town with two persons

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Jack El-Hai

Jack El-Hai

Book Author

Books: The Lost Brothers (2019), The Nazi and the Psychiatrist (2013), & The Lobotomist (2005). Covers history, medicine, science, and more. jack@el-hai.com

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