The Undaunted

Alan Hart, a physician, radiologist, tuberculosis researcher, and best-selling novelist, was also one of the first transgender men to undergo a hysterectomy in the United States. Hart lived and worked for many years in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho before moving to Hartford, Connecticut, where he died in 1962. In 1936, Hart published The Undaunted, his second best-seller. The novel, which follows young doctor Richard Cameron's attempts to find an effective treatment for anemia, begins in the west coast city of Seaforth, a stand-in for 1920s Seattle. Within the medical-research plot, Hart also weaves the story of men-Cameron and radiologist Sandy Farquhar-whose personalities and bodies do not fit neatly within the norms of the social or medical establishment. Dedicated to medicine and the understanding that scientific knowledge can decrease human pain and suffering, these men must nevertheless pursue their careers at personal cost. Lauded in its time for its insights into the inner workings of the medical field, The Undaunted is also an important document of the struggle of the human heart.