A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor (Vintage International)

In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves. In the impoverished rural community in which he works, John Sassall tend the maimed, the dying, and the lonely. He is not only the dispenser of cures but the repository of memories. And as Berger and Mohr follow Sassall about his rounds, they produce a book whose careful detail broadens into a meditation on the value we assign a human life. First published thirty years ago, A Fortunate Man remains moving and deeply relevant--no other book has offered such a close and passionate investigation of the roles doctors play in their society.



"In contemporary letters John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience." --Susan Sontag

• Bellwether: A Novel
• An Enemy of the People (Penguin Plays)
• The Friend: A Novel
• Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
• The Plague (Vintage International)
• No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters
• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
• In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
• The Plot Against America: A Novel
• The Ninth Hour: A Novel