Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and in Health
"Revolutionary Medicineis a 'must-read' for anyone interested in the birth of America. Upon closing Jeanne E. Abrams's wonderful book about the illnesses and health experiences of the nation's founders, you will never be able to look at Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and their peers the same way again."-Howard Markel,author ofAn Anatomy of Addiction"As America enters a new era of health care, this timely volume recalls what medicine was like in the days of the Founding Fathers.  Everything from Washington's dental woes to Jefferson's troublesome headaches and Dolley Madison’s tragic encounter with yellow fever finds its way into this lively and well-researched book.  In recounting battles over vaccinations, herbal remedies, the efficacy of blood-letting, and the appropriate role for government intervention in medical issues,Revolutionary Medicinereminds us that debates over health care are nothing new in America. They go back to our founders."-Jonathan D. Sarna,author ofWhen General Grant Expelled the Jews"Contemporary debates over medical research budgets and guaranteeing health insurance for all Americans echo conversations about the necessity of good health to the well-being and prosperity of the citizenry that began at the dawn of our national history. In lucid, accessible  prose, historian Jeanne E. Abrams turns to the lives and experiences of George and Martha Washington, John and Abigail Adams, James and Dolly Madison, as well as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to illuminate conversations about health, public and private, in our republic’s early years. Abrams's fine volume is a tonic for the frequent neglect of health and disease in so many histories of the early republic."-Alan M. Kraut,author ofGoldberger's War: The Life and Work of a Public Health Crusader"We know their vaunted place in history: Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and statesman, scientist, and pamphleteer Benjamin Franklin. But it’s their work in public health—and their personal battles with illness—that makes this blend of political and medical history so engaging...Abrams’s meticulous medical portrait of colonial times—and its most powerful leaders—will be fascinating reading for students of both history and medicine."-Publishers Weekly," Revolutionary Medicine...is a readable and eye-opening account.  We know so much about the Founders, but we rarely pause to think just how difficult 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' can be when you lack a good doctor or science-based care."-The Wall Street Journal,