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&sq=&lang=&file=File:TheCitadelCronin.jpeg) First edition | |
| Author | A. J. Cronin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 1937 Gollancz (UK) Little, Brown (US) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 446 pp. (UK hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-450-01041-4 |
The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, which was groundbreaking in its treatment of the contentious subject of medical ethics. It has been credited with laying the foundation in Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later.[1][2]
In the United States, it won the National Book Award for 1937 novels, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association.[3]
For his fifth book, Dr. Cronin drew on his experiences practising medicine in the coal-mining communities of the South Wales Valleys, as he had for The Stars Look Down two years earlier. Specifically, he had researched and reported on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and lung disease in the town of Tredegar. He had also worked as a doctor for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society at the Cottage Hospital, which served as the model for the National Health Service.
Cronin once stated in an interview, "I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug ... The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system."
- ^ "An expectant public: 1948–2008 60 years of the NHS". Birth of NHS in Scotland. Scottish Government. 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
- ^ "A.J. Cronin: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland". undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "Booksellers Give Prize to 'Citadel': Cronin's Work About Doctors Their Favorite--'Mme. Curie' Gets Non-Fiction Award ...", The New York Times, 2 March 1938, page 14. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).
Ballots were submitted by 319 stores; there had been about 600 ABA members one year earlier.
• At the Hotel Astor luncheon, presenter Clifton Fadiman said, "Unlike the Pulitzer Prize committee, the booksellers merely vote for their favorite books. They do not say it is the best book or the one that will elevate the standard of manhood or womanhood. Twenty years from now we can decide which are the masterpieces. This year we can only decide which books we enjoyed reading the most."