Berger's exploration of what it means to heal, now inducted into the Canons series nearly fifty years after its first publication

In 1966 John Berger spent three months in the Forest of Dean shadowing an English country GP, John Sassall. Sassall is a fortunate man - his work occupies and fulfils him, he lives amongst the patients he treats, the line between his life and his work is happily blurred.

In A Fortunate Man, Berger's text and the photography of Jean Mohr reveal with extraordinary intensity the life of a remarkable man. It is a portrait of one selfless individual and the rural community for which he became the hub. Drawing on psychology, biography and medicine A Fortunate Man is a portrait of sacrifice. It is also a profound exploration of what it means to be a doctor, to serve a community and to heal.

With a new introduction by writer and GP, Gavin Francis.

"I only wish I could do justice in a few words to the richness that makes this book so compelling" - * Guardian *

"A genuine tour de force . . . The intimate portrait of one man and his microscopic world reveals the faults and strains of a whole society" - * Observer *