Review by Choice Review
Throughout the 19th century and up until the 1920s, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the Western world. Most histories of tuberculosis focus on the accumulation of medical knowledge or describe the efforts of public health officials and voluntary organizations to combat the white plague. Bates, however, looks at the disease from the perspectives of the patients and their caretakers, including family members, clergy, sanatorium operators, nurses, and physicians. Using a wide variety of sources, especially the voluminous correspondence of Lawrence F. Flick, a Philadelphia physician who established sanatoriums and a tuberculosis research center and helped launch the anti-tuberculosis movement in the US, Bates weaves a rich social history that has resonance today for persons concerned about AIDS, cancer, mental illness, and other disorders that require prolonged care. Her work will find a wide audience among both historians and health care professionals. Lower-division undergraduate through graduate level collections. S. Galishoff Georgia State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review