Beyond the False Summit

Where to buy:

By Thomas L. Schwenk

Two physicians, Drs. Sarah Fletcher and Thomas Wilson, arrive separately in Park City, Utah in the 1890s—a rough mining town plagued by smoky air, muddy streets, and political corruption—to practice medicine. They join forces to solve a medical mystery that jeopardizes the lives of miners, incurring the wrath of a treacherous mine superintendent, but discover that helping each other overcome the residual scars of their past lives presents an even greater challenge.

Dr. Schwenk is a board-certified family physician who practiced for six years in Park City, Utah starting in 1978, before embarking on an academic career. Initially he was alone and the only physician in Park City following the closing of the mines. Dr. Schwenk graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and returned to Park City after training at the University of Utah.

He served as Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School for 25 years. He then served as Dean of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine for ten years before retirement in 2021. He has served on several national commissions and boards of academic organizations and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2002.

Dr. Schwenk has returned to live in Park City with his wife, Jane. They have children in Denver and Brooklyn who still consider themselves Parkites, with their three grandchildren growing up with a love for mountain living.