Lydia Kang

Nate Pedersen

What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.

A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything

Quackery

altlovesbooks

I'm waffling hard on my rating of this book. It's a very generous 4 stars, more like a 3.5 if I were being honest.

Divided into sections covering different aspects of medical history, this book covers a huge range of ground on the craziest things used as medicine over the course of history. There's no FDA regulating anything here, just unadulterated ingestion of heavy metals, literal snake oils, and poisons, the leeching, lobotomizing, and burning of the human body, and so many different ways to torture--I mean, cure, what ails you. It's a chilling walk down the road that got us to today's realm of regulated antibiotics, medicines, sanitization, and sterile medical procedures.

While all of this was really interesting to me in the beginning, the book covers so much ground that you'll get a deep dive on some things and then other, equally interesting sounding things get glossed over. Additionally, the author uses humor to keep things light (because, really, the book would be incredibly depressing without it), but I thought it was forced, stretched, and otherwise cringe-inducing in some places. 

A super interesting book if you're looking for a litany of medical history factoids, maybe pass on it if you're looking for detailed information though. Or use it as a jumping off point to other things, like I probably am. Also, if you're squeamish or otherwise don't want to read about genitalia problems or cures, maybe give this a pass.

Jeni Enjaian

I loved this book and all its cringeworthy details. Kang and Peterson combine solid historiography, strong use of all types of primary sources, and snarky wit to keep people reading about our own stupidity and guile. 
I highly recommend this book with the only caveat that you need to avoid if you have a weak stomach.

Quackery A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything

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