| 
| Author: Pope Brock
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.33
You Save: $9.62 (39%)
New (38) Used (20) Collectible (2) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 8023
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307339882
Dewey Decimal Number: 615.856
EAN: 9780307339881
ASIN: 0307339882
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080721215920T
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Brock Created a Masterpiece May 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a fantasticly written story about a part of American history that is a common thread to us all, yet few know about it. Brock's mastry of the written word and clever phrase makes this book a delightful read!
Learning and enjoying April 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the most enjoyable book I have read in a long while. It reads like a page turning novel and yet it is history and includes the beginnings of the modern AMA, why Viagra is advertized during the dinner hour on TV, talk-radio and politics, hearing it on the "X" and so much more. Why alternative medicine can be so "true" to to so many, why rational arguments about medicine, health, and polictics may never be really made.
I ordered two as gifts for a couple of doctor friends and have led my copy to a few others.
Outstanding Historical Account of Absurd Character April 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Truly fascinating. Pope Brock's in-depth detail of the extraordinary life of "Doctor" John R. Brinkley turned what might have been a milquetoast tale of pseudoscience into a page-turning biography of a character so absurd, it could only be a factual account. Fiction could not conceive of such audacity. Written in an eloquent, sometimes clinical, mostly conversational tone, Brock adeptly portrays Brinkley as a medical hack of Machiavellian proportions. This novel follows the twists and turns in the 20+ years that Brinkley practiced medicine - tracking him from Chicago to Kansas, California to Texas, leaving a glut of patients impotent, infertile, mutilated, and often dead. Brock is adept at utilizing the massive amounts of research he compiled from primary and secondary sources and presenting them in a manner that is engaging and engrossing.
As a member of Generation X, I had never heard of this larger-than-life character JR Brinkley, so I immediately consulted my elders - chiefly my grandmother and my endocrinologist - both of whom had heard of this infamous charlatan. This biography is nothing like my usual paperbacked fare (I lean more towards thrillers and detective novels), but I am exceedingly pleased that I picked it up. I blew through it in a weekend; I really couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.
 Shocking "butt" very Interesting! April 17, 2008
This is a very interesting book. Prior to reading the book, I had no idea who Dr. Brinkley was, nor the atrocities that he inflicted upon people. If he were alive today, I am sure that he would have been a pioneer in marketing his goat gland rejuvenation treatments via the Internet.
Dr. Brinkley was eventually stopped. Unfortunately, he has been replaced by today's charlatans, who prosper as spammers, as they push their miracle drugs and treatments to desperate people who are willing to try anything!
Good policy is about far more than science April 14, 2008
"Charlatan" is a fast moving, fun read about an early 20th. century historical era of emerging modern medical science. Filled with a plethora of entertaining stories about several literary and medical giants of the day, it develops a serious theme as applicable today as a century ago.
Through astoundingly comprehensive historical research cast in Pope's delightful story teller's style, deadly serious admonitions emerge applicable to consumer protection and sound public policy. Promoting enlightenment within medical consumers and policy makers demands far more than good science. It entails incredible social, economic, political and related skills cleverly applied. Success requires great sensitivity and accomodation to the cultural, psychological, social and related aspects of human cognition, emotions and behavoir, as well as the civility, compromise and consensus often imperative for success within public policy forums.
|
|
|
