Losing Hamilton, Savings New York: Dr. David Hosack, Botany and Medicine in the Early Republic

This illustrated lecture by historian Victoria Johnson features her acclaimed new book, American Eden (Liveright/W. W. Norton, 2018), which The Wall Street Journal calls “captivating.” When Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met on a dueling ground in July 1804, they chose the same attending physician: David Hosack. Family doctor and friend to both Hamilton and Burr, Hosack is today a shadowy figure at the edge of a famous duel, the great achievements of his life forgotten. Hosack was the most famous American doctor of the post-Revolutionary generation and the most beloved medical professor in the United States. He introduced new surgeries, championed the controversial practice of corpse dissection, and founded the first public botanical garden in the new nation. Hosack used his pioneering garden to train the next generation of American doctors and naturalists and to conduct some of the first pharmaceutical research in the United States. Today, his former garden is home to Rockefeller Center. The New York Times writes of American Eden, “Hosack’s Columbia lectures were…‘as good as the theater,’ and so is Johnson’s storytelling.”

 

Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author following the lecture and Q&A with the audience.