Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calling Dr. Kildare | 1940 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 2 | The Secret of Dr. Kildare | 1940 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 3 | Dr. Kildare Takes Charge | 1941 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 4 | Dr. Kildare’s Trial | 1941 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 5 | Young Dr. Kildare | 1941 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 6 | Dr. Kildare’s Crisis | 1942 | Max Brand | Buy |
| 7 | Dr. Kildare’s Search | 1943 | Max Brand | Buy |
Dr. Kildare was Max Brand’s biggest commercial creation outside of Western fiction. The character first appeared in a 1936 short story and was quickly picked up by Hollywood. The book series, published between 1940 and 1943, follows young Dr. James Kildare as he works at a large metropolitan hospital under the gruff mentorship of the older Dr. Gillespie. The stories balance medical drama with personal conflicts as Kildare learns to handle difficult patients, hospital politics, and his own ambitions.
What makes the Kildare books notable is how they helped establish the medical drama as a popular genre. Before television shows like ER or Grey’s Anatomy, Brand’s stories and their film adaptations were giving audiences the same mix of life-or-death medical decisions, personal sacrifice, and workplace tension. The seven novels in the series were written quickly to capitalize on the films’ popularity, but they hold up as brisk, entertaining reads that show Brand’s range beyond the Western genre.