Rugged Mercy by Robert Wright

Rugged Mercy by Robert Wright

In the dead of night in 1894, a trembling, wide-eyed 13-year-old boy assisted with his first surgery--an experience that changed his life. Robert H. Wright attended medical school, then returned home to Hailey, Idaho, to marry Cynthia Beamer, his childhood sweetheart, and to practice in the frontier west--a choice that required both rugged courage and devoted compassion. Called to risk his own life on multiple occasions, he remained composed during a crisis, and his gentle confidence calmed traumatized victims. At times, he performed operations by lantern light and traveled by buggy, dog sled, or Studebaker to reach remote patients. In 1917, he led the rescue effort at the North Star mine avalanche disaster.

Eventually, the doctor welcomed a grandson, also named Robert Wright, who eagerly absorbed thrilling tales of a pioneer past. Yet despite their close relationship, the younger Wright sensed mysterious secrets and unspoken heartbreak, and he began to probe for the untold stories. In Rugged Mercy, he unravels and celebrates the lives of his beloved grandparents. Alternating between accounts of the doctor's decades of medicine and his own memories of growing up in Hailey, the author provides an intimate glimpse of challenges faced by rural physicians in the first half of the 1900s, of significant events in the history and evolution of the Wood River Valley and Sun Valley resort, and of family life in a small Idaho community.

As a young boy, Robert Wright eagerly absorbed his grandfather's exciting tales about medical practice on the frontier West. As a teenager, sitting with a typewriter on his lap, he had the foresight to grill his grandmother for details.

A radio broadcasting opportunity at KIRO brought him to Seattle, and he is now senior vice president at a Seattle real estate investment firm.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780874223149
ISBN 10	0874223148
Title	Rugged Mercy
Author	Robert Wright
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Washington State University Press
Year published	2013-02-27
Number of pages	236
Prizes	Short-listed for Idaho Library Association Book Award 2013
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.