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This absorbing biography of one of our most durable icons offers not just a chronology of “GI Joe,” but also a fascinating account of the birth and early years of gastroenterology as a new specialty. Dr Franklin's biography is detailed and well written, with each of its 14 chapters providing a carefully researched account of a critical period in Dr Kirsner's remarkable career. Joseph Barnett Kirsner was born in 1909 to poor Ukrainian Jewish parents in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, at that time a bustling enclave for newly arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe. Young Joe was a top student at Boston English High School, where he excelled in Latin, history, and science. In 1929 he entered Tufts Medical School, working at odd jobs to help pay the tuition of $400. Rejected in his first round of internship applications, Dr Kirsner eventually was offered a slot at Woodlawn Hospital in Chicago, which provided him with solid clinical training. In 1937, he began his lifelong association with the University of Chicago Medical School, an association that is still ongoing in this his 100th year.

This hardcover book of 315 pages is printed in an easy-to-read format with useful endnotes to each chapter. The dozens of black and white photographs are most interesting, particularly those of Dr Kirsner in his early career. The title of the book is personified in a photo of GI Joe in army field uniform and helmet in World War II in Europe in 1944. A detailed index is provided to help locate the hundreds of people that Dr Kirsner interacted with in his amazing career. The first 6 chapters of Franklin's account, covering 1909–1961, are the most interesting and dramatic, because they provide a detailed account of Dr Kirsner's early to mid career interwoven with the sweeping changes that were ongoing in medical education and clinical practice. One of the decisive events in Dr Kirsner's life occurred in January 1936, when he signed on as an assistant to Dr Walter Palmer, a pioneering physician–scientist, one of the founders of our specialty and the first chief of the Gastroenterology Division at the University of Chicago. The exciting scientific and clinical environment in the hospital and Dr Palmer's mentorship were critical for Kirsner's achievements as a preeminent academic physician and leader.

The author, a former trainee at The University of Chicago, provides his readers with lively personal anecdotes that flesh out Dr Kirsner's life and career. I enjoyed reading about Dr Kirsner's early research efforts, and his meeting Minnie Schneider, whom he admitted to the ward with an ear infection and who later became his wife and soul mate of 64 years. Dr Kirsner served in World War II for 3 years as a major in the Medical Corps assigned to the 15th General Hospital that, during the Ardennes Forest Campaign in 1944, treated up to 1,000 casualties a day. After nearly 3 years in uniform, GI Joe returned home to Chicago to resume his life as an academic physician. As his clinician reputation spread, Dr Kirsner was frequently invited to treat the rich and famous. He consulted with King Hassan II of Morocco and his family, who like all of his patients, revered him. But his true calling, the center of his professional life, was the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Dr Kirsner was the leading force in this clinical arena for decades, and as told by his many patients in this book, his skills as a doctor were exceptional. His devotion to the care and study of IBD was his legacy to hundreds of loyal trainees.

One of Dr Kirsner's major contributions to the rich academic life at the University of Chicago was his absolute commitment to patient care, and his championing of the role of the clinician–teacher. He was acutely aware of the inevitable conflict between the science and art of medicine, and the tension between the laboratory-based physician scientist and the expert bedside teacher. In his own career he excelled in both arenas, but his top priority was his insistence on superb patient care. Dr Kirsner was on call “24/7” for his own patients and expected others to follow his example. A true “triple threat” he managed a demanding referral practice, published >750 articles, and served his own institution as Chief of Staff, Vice Dean, and major fund-raiser.

Bottom Line: I highly recommend this book to those interested in the history of our specialty as seen through the life of a true icon. Gastroenterology academicians and practitioners alike will be inspired by this lively account of a master clinician and extraordinary academic leader. Joe Kirsner devoted his long and productive life to his patients, his institution, and his trainees, and had fun doing it.