Audiobooks by Jack El-Hai

Face in the Mirror: A Surgeon, a Patient, and the Remarkable Story of the First Face Transplant at M

For years, they came in on weekends to plan and practice—nearly sixty surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists, preparing to harmonize in a vast medical symphony. For the team at Mayo Clinic, it was their most complex surgery to date: a face transplant. At the heart of this event was Andy Sandness. He grappled with feelings of isolation and shame after a disfiguring suicide attempt but was determined to reclaim his future, to be seen as ordinary, and to belong again. Alongside him was Dr. Samir Mardini, a surgeon with an intense, unwavering desire to transform medicine and create a new life for his patient. Their story—told over nearly two decades—is a poignant exploration of resilience, hope, and friendship, as well as an incredible account of medical breakthroughs and scientific discovery that reveals the strength of the human spirit, and the courage to rise above our scars.

Jack El-Hai (Author), Pat Grimes (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds a

In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann GÃ¶g arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot water bottle, and the equivalent of 1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining GÃ¶g in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime -- Grand Admiral DÃ¶z; armed forces commander Wilhelm Keitel and his deputy Alfred Jodl; the mentally unstable Robert Ley; the suicidal Hans Frank; the pornographic propagandist Julius Streicher -- fifty-two senior Nazis in all, of whom the dominant figure was GÃ¶g. To ensure that the villainous captives were fit for trial at Nuremberg, the US army sent an ambitious army psychiatrist, Captain Douglas M. Kelley, to supervise their mental well-being during their detention. Kelley realized he was being offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to discover a distinguishing trait among these arch-criminals that would mark them as psychologically different from the rest of humanity. So began a remarkable relationship between Kelley and his captors, told here for the first time with unique access to Kelley's long-hidden papers and medical records. Kelley's was a hazardous quest, dangerous because against all his expectations he began to appreciate and understand some of the Nazi captives, none more so than the former Reichsmarshall, Hermann GÃ¶g. Evil had its charms.

Jack El-Hai (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Der Nazi und der Psychiater: Hermann Göring und die Nürnberger Prozesse | Verfilmt mit Ru

Auf der Grundlage bisher nie veröffentlichter Dokumente erzählt der amerikanische Wissenschaftsjournalist Jack El-Hai von der Begegnung des amerikanischen Militärpsychiaters Douglas M.Kelley mit der Elite des Naziregimes – unter ihnen »Reichsmarschall« Hermann Göring. In Vorbereitung auf den am 20. November 1945 eröffneten »Nürnberger Prozess« vor dem Internationalen Militärgerichtshof untersuchten amerikanische Ärzte die inhaftierten 52 Nazigrößen auf ihre psychische Verfassung. Der leitende Armeepsychiater Douglas M. Kelley war von Hermann Göring auf der Stelle fasziniert und sah für sich die einzigartige Chance, in umfassenden Gesprächen die »Nazi-Psyche«, das »Böse im Menschen« zu erforschen. »Sein Buch ist eine beeindruckend detaillierte Charakterstudie« — Deutschlandradio Kultur

Jack El-Hai (Author), Patrick Twinem (Narrator)

Audiobook

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

The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, MD, who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Drawing on Freeman's documents and interviews with Freeman's family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look at the life and work of this complex scientific genius.

Jack El-Hai (Author), Peter Lerman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds a

In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann Göring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot-water bottle, and the equivalent of $1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining Göring in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime—Grand Admiral Dönitz, armed forces commander Wilhelm Keitel and his deputy Alfred Jodl, the mentally unstable Robert Ley, the suicidal Hans Frank, the pornographic propagandist Julius Streicher—fifty-two senior Nazis in all, of whom the dominant figure was Göring. To ensure that the villainous captives were fit for trial at Nuremberg, the US Army sent an ambitious army psychiatrist, Captain Douglas M. Kelley, to supervise their mental well-being during their detention. Kelley realized he was being offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to discover a distinguishing trait among these archcriminals that would mark them as psychologically different from the rest of humanity. So began a remarkable relationship between Kelley and his captors, told here for the first time with unique access to Kelley’s long-hidden papers and medical records. Kelley’s was a hazardous quest, dangerous because against all his expectations he began to appreciate and understand some of the Nazi captives, none more so than the former Reichsmarschall, Hermann Göring. Evil had its charms. “Ace reportage on the unique relationship between a prison physician and one of the Third Reich’s highest ranking officials…El-Hai’s gripping account turns a chilling page in American history and provides an unsettling meditation on the machinations of evil.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Jack El-Hai (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

Audiobook