May 1, 2003
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.-Sherwin B. Nuland, author of Lost in America: A Journey With My Father (2003), will give the first annual "Salute to Families" lecture on Wednesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Cole Assembly Room in Converse Hall at Amherst College. His talk is sponsored by the Amherst College Creative Writing Center and Family Outreach of Amherst. Proceeds from the talk and book signing will benefit Family Outreach. Admission to the benefit lecture is $10 general admission, and $25 for benefactors. A reception with the author will follow. For reservations, call 413/253-0154.
Winner of the National Book Award in 1994 for How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, Nuland is clinical professor of surgery at Yale, where he also teaches bioethics and medical history. A native of New York City, Nuland in his new book offers an intensive look at his relationship with his father, Meyer Nudelman, an immigrant who never assimilated into the new American culture. Lost in America traces the father's alienation, his debilitating physical ailments and the deep emotional traumas inflicted on his relationship with his son. Ultimately, Nuland discovered that his father had tertiary syphilis, and had to deal with the shock and shame that such a revelation entailed. Nuland himself fell into a deep depression in his 30s and narrowly escaped being lobotomized. "Written with enormous empathy, yet without a hint of sentimentality, Nuland's memoir is both heartbreaking and breathtaking," according to Publisher's Weekly.
Family Outreach of Amherst is a private, nonprofit agency dedicated to helping Amherst families in need.
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