Autopsy of War: A Personal History
by John A. Parrish
Thomas Dunne Books
John Parrish, Edward Wigglesworth Professor of Dermatology Emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital, examines tortured memories from his tour of duty as a marine battlefield 
doctor in Vietnam. In his new book, Autopsy of War, Parrish delivers a fearless narrative chronicling his four decade–long struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Parrish goes into detail about his tumultuous southern Baptist childhood and the profound influence of his father, a preacher turned Navy chaplain. He also describes the unimaginable carnage and acts of pure cruelty he witnessed in Vietnam—experiences that shattered his worldview, leaving him to withdraw from his family upon his return home.
Parrish recalls being virtually homeless, reliving the horrors of war in a series of dark flashbacks. After the war, Parrish battled suicidal thoughts, infidelity and sex addiction along his road to recovery.
Parrish discusses the life events that aided his professional contributions to the fields of medicine and technology, as well as his quest to discover the identity of a particular soldier in Vietnam he could not save—and whose memory has haunted him.
Autopsy of War is a valiant memoir that is intensely personal and universally relevant to the world of war and recovery.
Scales to Scalpels: Doctors Who Practice the Healing Arts of Music and Medicine
by Lisa Wong with Robert Viagas
Pegasus Books
In Scales to Scalpels, Lisa Wong, HMS clinical instructor in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and performing arts writer Robert Viagas examine how the musical
ambitions of the physicians, medical students and health-care professionals of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO) affect the way they minister to patients and, in turn, how their medical work affects their music.
The book chronicles how these groups of health-care providers make the cognitive and emotional transition from the operating room to the rehearsal studio. It also delves into the question of whether or not music heals the doctors and how practicing the art of music transforms the art of practicing medicine.
The LSO was founded in 1982 and has been under the leadership of Wong, a violinist, since she took over as president in 1991. Today, 80 percent of the LSO musicians are associated with the Boston medical community.
