Clarence Berton Roueché Jr. ( ; April 16, 1910 – April 28, 1994) was an American medical writer who wrote for The New Yorker magazine for almost fifty years. He wrote twenty books, including Eleven Blue Men (1954), The Incurable Wound (1958), Feral (1974), and The Medical Detectives (1980). An article he wrote for The New Yorker was made into the 1956 film Bigger Than Life, and many of the medical mysteries on the television show House were inspired by Roueché's writings.
Early life and education Berton Roueché was born in Chicago on April 16, 1910, to Clarence Berton Roueché Sr., a tailor, and Nana Maria Mossman.U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–19471910 United States Federal Census1920 United States Federal Census His paternal great-grandparents emigrated from France.1880 United States Federal Census He graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City in 1928 and is a member of the Southwest High School Hall of Fame. He received an undergraduate journalism degree at the University of Missouri in 1933. (Note that Roueché's date of death is derived from the date of publication for this article, which is April 29, 1994, and the fact that the article says he "died yesterday", which makes his date of death April 28, 1994. Also note that the article incorrectly says his age at death was 83; if he was born April 16, 1910, his age at death would have been 84.)
Career He was a reporter for The Kansas City Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
In 1944, he was hired as a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. In 1946, "The Annals of Medicine" department of the magazine was created for him. "The Annals of Medicine" is a series about medical detection and the fight against different diseases. An article he wrote for The New Yorker, entitled "Ten Feet Tall", was made into a 1956 film called Bigger Than Life, which stars James Mason. The article and film are about the negative side effects of the drug cortisone. Roueché remained a staff writer for The New Yorker until his death, a span of about fifty years.
In addition to writing for The New Yorker, he wrote twenty books, mostly pieces of medical writing focused on epidemiology, with elements of mystery and detective work. He wrote several suspense novels, including Black Weather (1945), The Last Enemy (1956), Feral (1974), and Fago (1977). Roueché's writings, especially his book The Medical Detectives (1980), inspired in part the television show House, which premiered in 2004 on the Fox network. (last sentence of 8th paragraph) Many of the medical cases in the show are directly inspired by real-life cases in The Medical Detectives. His 1954 book Eleven Blue Men, which was a collection of pieces he had written for The New Yorker, was awarded a Raven by the Mystery Writers of America. In 1982, he received an Academy Award of The American Academy of Arts and Letters for literature. He received awards from the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Kansas City Academy of Medicine, the American Medical Writers Association, and the Lasker Foundation.
Personal life On October 28, 1936, he married Katherine Eisenhower, the niece of future U.S. President General Dwight D. Eisenhower. She remained his wife until his death in 1994. They had one child, Arthur Bradford Roueché, who was born November 16, 1942.
Later in life, he developed emphysema (COPD).
On April 28, 1994, Roueché died at his home in Amagansett, Long Island. He was 84 years old. The cause of death was suicide.
Bibliography
Books
Fiction
Black Weather (1945) (also known as Rooming House) The Last Enemy (1956) Feral (1974) (also released as The Cats) Fago (1977)
Medical writing
Eleven Blue Men, and Other Narratives of Medical Detection (1954) (alternative title: Annals of Medical Detection) The Incurable Wound and Further Narratives of Medical Detection (1958)
A Man Named Hoffman and Other Narratives of Medical Detection (1966) (published in the UK as Dossier of Medical Detection)
Annals of Epidemiology (1967) The Orange Man and Other Narratives of Medical Detection (1971) The Medical Detectives (1980, reissued in 1991) The Medical Detectives II (1984) The Man Who Grew Two Breasts: And Other True Tales of Medical Detection (1996) (published posthumously; the book contains seven instalments that had not been in any books previously)
Travel writing
Greener Grass (1948) The Delectable Mountains (1953) What's Left: Reports on a Diminishing America (1968) Desert and plain, the mountains and the river: A celebration of rural America by Berton Roueché and David Plowden (1975) The River World and Other Explorations (1978) Special Places: In Search of Small Town America (1982) Sea to Shining Sea: People, Travels, Places (1987)
Other nonfiction
The Neutral Spirit: a Portrait of Alcohol (1960)
Essays and reporting
Annals of Medicine
Article New Yorker publication Book publication Later collection The Alerting of Mr. Pomerantz August 23, 1947 Eleven Blue Men The Medical Detectives II A Perverse, Ungrateful, Maleficent Malady March 6, 1948 Eleven Blue Men May 29, 1948 The Medical Detectives A Man from Mexico June 4, 1949 The Medical Detectives II The Fog September 23, 1950 The Medical Detectives II A Pig from Jersey November 11, 1950 The Medical Detectives A Pinch of Dust June 16, 1951 The Medical Detectives II Something Extraordinary July 21, 1951 A Game of Wild Indians March 29, 1952 The Medical Detectives Family Reunion December 27, 1952 Birds of a Feather April 11, 1953 The Medical Detectives II A Lonely Road October 10, 1953 The Medical Detectives II Lost June 12, 1954 The Incurable Wound The Medical Detectives II One of the Lucky Ones February 19, 1955 The Medical Detectives II Ten Feet Tall September 3, 1955 CH3CO2C6H4CO2H March 24, 1956 The Medical Detectives The Incurable Wound March 30, 1957 The Medical Detectives The Most Delicate Thing in the World April 27, 1957 The Medical Detectives II Impression: Essentially Normal March 29, 1958 A Man Named Hoffman The Medical Detectives The Liberace Room September 10, 1960 The Medical Detectives Placebo October 8, 1960 The Medical Detectives II A Certain Contribution January 14, 1961 The Medical Detectives II A Great Green Cloud July 8, 1961 S. Miami November 25, 1961 The Medical Detectives II An Emotion of Weirdness August 10, 1963 Back to Venice October 5, 1963 Leaves of Three September 5, 1964 The Medical Detectives II A Swim in the Nile October 31, 1964 The Medical Detectives A Man Named Hoffman April 17, 1965 The Medical Detectives Something a Little Unusual May 8, 1965 The Orange Man The Medical Detectives In the Bughouse November 20, 1965 The Medical Detectives II Shiver and Burn November 5, 1966 The Medical Detectives II The Orange Man May 20, 1967 The Medical Detectives Three Sick Babies September 28, 1968 The Medical Detectives The Case of Mrs. Carter November 30, 1968 The Medical Detectives II The Hiccups March 29, 1969 The Medical Detectives II The Dead Mosquitos October 4, 1969 The Medical Detectives A Woman with a Headache January 24, 1970 The Medical Detectives II The Huckleby Hogs [Insufficient Evidence] August 15, 1970 The Medical Detectives A Small, Apprehensive Child April 3, 1971 The Medical Detectives II The West Branch Study [The Simpsons and the Hepatitides] August 14, 1971 The Medical Detectives The Santa Clause Specimen August 28, 1971 The Medical Detectives II As Empty as Eve September 2, 1974 The Medical Detectives Two Blue Hands December 15, 1975 All I Could Do Was Stand in the Woods September 5, 1977 Antipathies March 6, 1978 Sandy August 14, 1978 Live and Let Live July 9, 1979 A Rainy Day on the Vineyard July 28, 1980 The Prognosis for This Patient is Horrible January 18, 1982 The Medical Detectives Volume II The Hoofbeats of a Zebra May 28, 1984 A Contemporary Touch August 6, 1984 The Dinosaur Collection May 5, 1986 The Man Who Grew Two Breasts Cinnabar December 1, 1986 The Fumigation Chamber December 28, 1987 The Medical Detectives (1991 reissue) A Lean Cuisine June 20, 1988 The Foulest and Nastiest Creatures That Be September 5, 1988 The Poker Room August 28, 1989 The Man Who Grew Two Breasts A Good Safe Tan March 4, 1991 The Man Who Grew Two Breasts — Overdoing It — Hoping —
Other
References
External links (note the alternate spelling of his first name and the incorrect birth and death dates) (note the incorrect spelling of his last name)