As Neil Grauer admits, an exhaustive history of Johns Hopkins
Medicine is almost impossible. Nevertheless, Grauer provides an
admirable and comprehensive account of the evolution of one of
the most distinguished academic medical centers in the world.
Grauer provides the reason why visionary innovation is embedded
in the culture of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Put simply, this
institution was founded by a brilliantly creative imagination.
Johns Hopkins was the second of 11 children born to Maryland
Quaker tobacco plantation owners Samuel and Hannah Janney
Hopkins. Hopkins made his fortune initially by accepting
moonshine as payment for groceries from Maryland farmers and
then rebottling and selling it, making what he claimed was $200
000 in his first year of business. More than a decade before he
died in 1878, Hopkins petitioned the Maryland legislature to
establish 2 corporations, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The
Johns Hopkins University. In his will, Hopkins left virtually
his entire fortune of $7 million—which