Book excerpt: Once upon a time, specifically ranging from 1866 until the end of the 1950s, almost all of the attending staff at Cook County Hospital (CCH)-and thus the instructors who prepared physicians for their roles in the world-were unpaid volunteers. In all large public teaching hospitals, like CCH, appointment to the staff was both an honor and public recognition of the appointee's status, his or her reputation among his or her peers. Prior to the advent of all-fulltime salaried positions in the 1970s and 1980s, nearly all of the attending staff were non-paid volunteers. Consequently, for all of CCH history up to that point, the list of surgical faculty is a virtual "Who's Who" of Chicago surgeons. This book examines the development of the medical disciplines that historically fell under the aegis of the department of surgery at CCH and other similar institutions. The individuals who taught successive new generations of surgeons were not necessarily famed in their time. Already respected, however, they gained legendary status as their former students realized just how effectively these men had taught them. From relevant anecdotes about individual interactions with these instructors to a collection of "quotable quotes" and historical vignettes and personal experiences from physicians and nurses, this books looks at a unique time and collection of individuals who conspired to achieve something remarkable. It is more than a history of a building on Chicago's west side-it is an inside look at the people who made Cook County Hospital a center of top-flight medical education and world-class care through the years.