Dr. John Moore, 17291802: A Life in Medicine, Travel, and Revolution [Hardcover]

This book is the first biography of Scottish-born physician John Moore. Here, Henry L. Fulton recounts Moores childhood, education, and medical training in Glasgow and abroad; discusses his marriage, family, and friendships (particularly with Tobias Smollett); and depicts his professional practice in the north. The narrative uncovers Moores transformative experience accompanying a young nobleman on the Grand Tour through Europe and provides a detailed account of the journey's highlights and difficulties. When Moore returns, he moves his family to London to begin a second career in literature and to acquire patronage for his sons professions.

In this biography Fulton covers not only Moores publications but also discusses his circle of friends among nobility, politicians, artists, and others. Also discussed is Moores involvement in the French Revolution, his correspondence with Robert Burns, and his strained family relationships. Additionally presented here is new information regarding Moores finances drawn from archival records in Glasgow and Edinburgh and his bank ledgers in London.

Nominally, a biography attempts to provide an account of a particular chosen life. However, in adroit hands it can also illumine the surroundings of its subject, detailing a life lived within the wider contexts of a vibrant and vital world. Such an example may be found in Henry L Fultons book: as well as describing John Moore from cradle to grave, it provides an in-depth and fascinating portrait of the multifarious spheres  professional, personal, cultural, political  Moore inhabited. . . .This book, substantial and substantive, will stand as the definitive version on its subject for many decades. . . .[I]n the biography of John Moore, the richness and variety of a life lived through a wide variety of intellectual and cultural pursuits is demonstrated. Henry L Fulton should be commended in prodl“f