Dr. America: The Lives of Thomas A. Dooley, 1927–1961 is a book written by James T. Fisher, providing a historical discussion of Thomas Anthony Dooley III, an American medical missionary who worked in Vietnam and Laos in the 1950s and early 1960s. The book itself is viewed not only as a statement on Dooley's "lives" as a medical missionary, but it is also a socially scientific analysis of his life. A central argument of the book is that Dooley's work laid the ideological foundation for U.S. entry into Vietnam. Other important topics discussed are Dooley's personal journey towards becoming a "Jungle Doctor," Dooley's similarities and differences from Albert Schweitzer, Dooley as a contemporary Jesus or a redeemed man, and Dooley as a "historical bridge" between anticommunist McCarthyism and the President Kennedy's Vietnam policy. The biography is one volume of a series titled Culture, Politics, and the Cold War edited by Christian G. Appy.

Fisher presents Dooley's life as a historical bildungsroman towards a "Jungle Doctor of a New Age," and he makes it clear that he will do so when he says that Dooley went from an "Irish-American rake" to a worldwide celebrity who served as a "historical bridge" between McCarthyism and the change in Vietnam policies started under President Kennedy in the early 1960s. Dooley goes from a boy, adolescent, and bachelor who disregards rules and remains unaware of the sociopolitical forces shaping his character to a medical officer of the military acting as a political pawn and finally to a "Jungle Doctor" who seeks to transcend political agendas while bridging the older age of anticommunism with the newer age of the focus on the advance of communism in Vietnam starting with the Kennedy administration.

At the start of Fisher's historical narrative, Dooley appears as an adolescent who defies the rules of his Catholic high school yet manages to get away with his wrongdoings because of his likable personality. Fisher presents Dooley as naive and unaware that he was being indoctrinated with Catholic values, and this aspect of his personality remains static throughout his college life. He points out that Dooley's disregard for rules contributed to his becoming a pawn for US intelligence operations in Vietnam (Dooley's expulsion from medical school compelled him to join the military and serve as medical officer). Dooley was just the man needed to establish a friendship between the United States and South Vietnam, and US intelligence officers such as Edward Lansdale exploited Dooley's personality to enhance US anticommunist presence in Indochina. Dooley's time in the military allowed him to medically aid the destitute from North Vietnam, thereby allowing him to effectively cultivate a friendship with the emerging political leader in the South Ngo Dinh Diem. Fisher also cites Dooley's membership in the Vietnam Lobby as evidence for the idea that Dooley was exploited as a political tool for Cold War interests.

But Fisher then points out that after Dooley's expulsion from the military because of his homosexuality, Dooley sought to transcend the idea of a political pawn by learning to serve as an actual "Jungle Doctor." Like Albert Schweitzer, Dooley learned how to market himself to the public, a crucial characteristic of the "Jungle Doctor" archetype that Albert Schweitzer had already established. Fisher proposes that through media and showbiz, both of which were facilitated by Dooley's experience as a pawn advancing Cold War agendas, Dooley gave himself enough of the publicity attached with assuming the "Jungle Doctor" identity that government officials were taking Dooley's plans into consideration when constructing their political agendas (unlike before, when Dooley was instructed to follow what he was told by CIA officers). Dooley obtained an avenue for self-marketing when, during his time in the military, intelligence officers connected him with William J. Lederer, a public information officer who helped Dooley publish Deliver Us from Evil.

Fisher reveals how Dooley latched onto the "Jungle Doctor" identity when he adopted his first civilian mission: Operation Laos. After Dooley met with Albert Schweitzer, the exemplar of the "Jungle Doctor" archetype, to learn from Schweitzer's work, Dooley began establishing clinics in Laos which were financially fortified by donations including those from Catholic congregations. During these missions, Dooley was portrayed as an altruist who genuinely cared about the people whom he served, a portrayal consistent with the "Jungle Doctor" identity.

Fisher clearly mentions that Dooley's journey through life terminates not simply in his becoming a "Jungle Doctor" but also in his becoming a "Jungle Doctor" of a new age. Fisher points out that Dooley served as the "historical bridge" between the older era of McCarthyism and the newer age of Irish Catholic John F. Kennedy, and he uses two facts to support this claim. First, Dooley was friends with Kennedy's father and president Kennedy himself, and second, Dooley was also an Irish Catholic (like President Kennedy) who used showbiz to promote his work.

Ultimately, Fisher presents a bildungsroman in real life: Thomas Dooley, a man who builds himself into a "Jungle Doctor of a New Age" from an "undisciplined Irish-American rake."

Although Dooley explicitly claims that he and Schweitzer have different, somewhat opposite philosophies as to how they approach their medical missionary work, Fisher portrays the two medical missionaries as two opposites who make similar global impacts. Whereas Fisher shows Schweitzer as a Protestant missionary from a family of intellectuals including his cousin (philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre), Dooley comes from a family of corporate businessmen of the 1920s. Schweitzer was a Protestant missionary, whereas Dooley was Irish Catholic. Whereas Schweitzer did not uniquely identify with a specific nationality while performing his medical missionary work as a whole, Fisher cites Dooley as someone who claims to bring uniquely American values to Southeast Asia. In fact, Fisher points out that Dooley's objective was to show the Laotians how good the Americans were in going to help improve their medical well-being. Fisher also presents how effective this was, citing the Laotian term Thanh Mo America (Dr. America) used to address Dooley. Not only did Schweitzer not explicitly identify with the values of his German and French background, but he also expressed his dislike for Dooley's identification with American principles. And not only did Schweitzer dislike some of the ways Dooley approached his medical missionary work, but Fisher also cites Dooley distinguishing himself from aspects of Schweitzer's identity. Whereas Schweitzer was claimed to harbor racist, colonialist, and paternalist attitudes towards the people whom he helped, Dooley explicitly mentioned in Fisher's biography that he was not racist, not colonialist, and not paternalist.