Review by Booklist Review
Medical historian Whorton's review of some two centuries of alternative medicine in the U.S. addresses many subjects whose names are familiar today, such as homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, and Christian Science, and also some whose monickers and import are utterly strange, such as Thomsonianism, hydrotherapy, mesmerism, and eclecticism. The terms that "regular" medicine has applied to these "irregular" methods, evolving from "medical cultism" to "alternative medicine" to "complementary medicine," make clear the rising status of at least some of them. Whorton describes their theoretical backgrounds and marketing techniques (they often presented themselves as less violent therapies than such regular practices as, say, blood-letting). He graphically describes the practitioners and followers of each nonstandard therapeutic as well as selected treatments and their results. This well-documented history ministers to the realization that, as Whorton puts it, "There is nothing less scientific than making up your mind on a subject about which you know next to nothing." So read it and know. --William Beatty
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Thorough, enjoyable, and rigorous, this study documents the major "unconventional" healing movements of 19th- and 20th-century America. Whorton (history of medicine, Univ. of Washington) traces the origins and influences of Thomsonianism, homeopathy, mesmerism, Christian Science, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, and acupuncture, briefly discussing therapeutic touch, visualization, and prayer as well. The author also examines the rancorous history of medical licensing in the United States and leaves the reader with a sense that 21st-century healthcare will allow for a more conciliatory system of integrative medicine. He focuses on organized healing traditions and therefore does not examine the recent trend toward mass-market teas, supplements, herbal remedies, and other now-routine household therapies. This book fills a large gap left since the publication of Norman Gevitz's 1988 collection of essays, Other Healers: Unorthodox Medicine in America. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.-Andy Wickens, King Cty. Lib. Syst., Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lively, entertaining, and well-documented introduction to the history of unconventional medicine in the US over the past two centuries. Whorton, who teaches a consciousness-raising course on alternative approaches to healing at the Univ. of Washington School of Medicine, neither condemns nor recommends these practices but seeks a further entente between orthodox and alternative medicine through increasing each group's understanding of the other. Alternative medicine has had a long and colorful history in the US, and Whorton's fair-minded account is filled with fascinating details of its conflicts with mainstream medicine. He explores the roots, foreign and domestic, of various alternative systems, their shared values, their common perceptions of orthodox medicine, and the reasons behind mainstream medicine's efforts to suppress their activities. While some nonstandard approaches to healing are widely familiar today-chiropractic, acupuncture, and Christian Science, for example-Whorton brings to light some long-forgotten ones. Who but a medical historian recalls Thomsonianism, developed by a New Hampshire farmer whose regimen relied on botanicals and the inducement of vomiting and sweating? Or hydropathy, which employed copious amounts of water both inside and out? Whorton gives these and other therapies a historic context, relating them to the political thought and social movements of their times. Especially interesting is the story of how osteopathy, once scorned by orthodox medicine, has gradually been absorbed by it. In his conclusion, Whorton notes that the redesignation of some unconventional approaches as "complementary medicine" and the emergence of "integrative medicine" indicate a growing recognition that alternative approaches of various types may indeed have something to offer in balancing the treatments offered by conventional medicine. While health-care professionals are the primary audience, there's much here to interest and perhaps amaze anyone who has ever been a patient.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
