Alex Green ‘04, Lurie Institute visiting scholar, receives prestigious book award for biography of Fernald School namesake
April 2, 2026
Image courtesy Bellevue Literary Press.
Alex Green ‘04, a visiting scholar with the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis, received a National Book Critics Circle Award this month for “A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled,” his biography of Fernald, a seminal figure in the history of disability and special education.
Each year, the awards honor the “finest books published in English” in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism.
According to the National Book Critics Circle, Green’s “well researched biography brings back a story that had been hidden in the archives for a century,” telling the story of a doctor “who transformed our understanding of disabilities in ways that continue to influence our views today. But as Green reveals, Fernald was a complex character whose legacy is both inspiring and troubling.”
