Quacks - Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine (Revealing History)

By Roy Porter

Book Overview

If the thought of visiting the doctor or having a spell in the hospital gives most people pause to contemplate their mortality, then such thoughts must pale when compared to the experiences of our ancestors. They were largely at the mercy of a medical fraternity renowned more for the eccentricity of their cures than their efficacy. From the pisse prophets who would gaze upon a patient s urine to establish the most accurate diagnosis, to the pushers of such remedies as Walkers Jesuit Drops to cure venereal disease, "Quacks" is a thrilling history of opportunists, charlatans, conmen, some deludedly sincere doctors, andultimatelyof our own enduring credulity."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0752425900
• ISBN13: 9780752425900
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Tempus
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 1.3" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

An educated fraud is no less fraudulent than the quack himself.

Fantastic brief education into how and why medical and spiritual based quackery practices not only developed and for a time prospered greatly, but spurred along medical cultural and social changes themselves. Doctors did have to compete, after all, and even some of them were as falsely successful and outdated in ideas as quacks. The history isn’t just about the typical soapbox preaching snake oil salesman - it’s about their sudden and angering appearance as direct competition to established medical community arrogance and the effect social response had upon both. Also a neat glimpse into advertising and marketing history. Expect Porter wit, if you’re familiar with it.