John J. Ross discusses Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough: The Medical Lives of Famous Writers

Was Jack London's death a suicide, or the result of a series of medical misadventures? Was it a syphlitic condition that plagued Shakespeare during the creation of some of his most memorable work? In Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough, John J. Ross debunks the biographical and medical myths, suggests new diagnoses, and discusses the impact of disease on the lives and work of ten of the most influential writers in the English language.

Ross is a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He lives in the Boston area with his family.