At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he was moody and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a point, and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet somehow, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbitalâor ice pickâlobotomy.
Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, Howard spent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirties in a bottle. It wasnât until he was in his forties that Howard began to pull his life together. But even as he began to live the ânormalâ life he had been denied, Howard struggled with one question: Why?
There were only three people who would know the truth: Freeman, the man who performed the procedure; Lou, his cold and demanding stepmother who brought Howard to the doctorâs attention; and his father, Rodney. Of the three, only Rodney, the man who hadnât intervened on his sonâs behalf, was still living. Time was running out. Stable and happy for the first time in decades, Howard began to search for answers.
Through his research, Howard met other lobotomy patients and their families, talked with one of Freemanâs sons about his fatherâs controversial lifeâs work, and confronted Rodney about his complicity. And, in the archive where the doctorâs files are stored, he finally came face to face with the truth.Revealing what happened to a child no oneânot his father, not the medical community, not the stateâwas willing to protect, My Lobotomy exposes a shameful chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. Yet, ultimately, this is a powerful and moving chronicle of the life of one man.
About the author
HOWARD DULLY is a tour bus driver who lives happily with his wife in San Jose, California. This is his first book.
CHARLES FLEMING is a former Newsweek correspondent and Vanity Fair contributor and the coauthor of a number of bestselling nonfiction books. He lives in Los Angeles.
