Only a few years ago, academic medicine in the United States was a far cry from today's fascination with molecular biology and managed care as indices of medical excellence. For roughly 60 years, beginning in the 1920s, before physicians could rely on large numbers of medicines that could truly benefit their patients, medical school professors were largely concerned with bedside research and with molding students and residents into physicians who took care of their patients in all senses of the word "care"

The three careers outlined in this book are presented in terms of unadulterated praise, and this praise is not misplaced. All three men are remarkable for their achievements. Soma Weiss, the fulcrum of Hollingsworth's story, left Hungary in 1920, completed his medical studies at Cornell University in 1923, joined the Thorndike Laboratory at Boston City Hospital 2 years later, and in 1939, at the age of 40, became chief of medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and professor at Harvard University. By the time he died, less than 3 years later, Weiss had become a legend, as is evident in the testimonials presented at his memorial service. His rapid ascent reflected not only his ability in clinical and laboratory research (focused on the cardiovascular system and drugs that affect it) but also his extraordinary teaching skills.

Among his accomplishments were the young clinical investigators he recruited. These included Eugene Stead, whom Weiss brought to the Thorndike Laboratory, and Paul Beeson, whom he brought to the Brigham Hospital. Like other Weiss recruits, these men went on to positions of leadership: Stead eventually went to Duke University, Beeson to Yale and Oxford and to edit the Cecil-Loeb textbook. Both have been among Hollingsworth's own mentors. He includes the formal curricula vitae of all three protagonists, and he lists their trainees. Although the results of much of their research have long been standard knowledge, the bibliographies are useful reminders. After all, this is an intellectual genealogy.

The legacy mentioned in the book's title includes attributes such as leadership, manners, thoughtful communication with patients and peers, and, above all, the supportive training that is most likely to produce skilled and caring physicians. I can attest to Stead's skill in encouraging young physicians: We have never met, but, in 1968, after reading one of my papers, he invited me to contribute a paper on a topic of my own choice to Medical Times, which he edited. I was surely not the only newly minted assistant professor whom he encouraged in this or other ways.

Hollingsworth writes with naivete, and his narrative can be confusing. His chapter on medical education and health care before 1920 is slightly muddled. Still, this is an engaging look at medicine as it was practiced—and led—in the recent past.