Potions Or Poisons?

The authors of THE SNAKE OIL CURE and THE GREAT AMERICAN MEDICINE SHOW help illuminate the fascinating history of patent medicines.

In the late 19th century, costumed performers dressed as Indians and exotic witch doctors roamed rural America entertaining people and selling vast quantities of medicinal preparations. Usually neither beneficial nor healthy, their ingredients often included opium, cocaine, mercury and grain alcohol.

POTIONS OR POISONS tells how a reform movement led by Dr. Harvey Wiley of the Food and Drug Administration, and spurred on to action by journalist Samuel Hopkins Adams?who wrote a searing expose of the phony medicines in Colliers magazine led to the end of the medicine shows. But it was not the end of the miracle tonics. In fact, it was merely the beginning of a long dance with three partners those who develop the supposed cures, a public eager to swallow their stories, and the government, which must continually scramble to keep up with the latest trends in alternative healing.

From patent medicines to the internet, from old-time medicine shows to new-age scams, POTIONS OR POISONS? is a fascinating look at the promise of health in a bottle.

Upplagd i sortimentet: 15 Juni, 2010