Reviews
"Bear attacks. Syphilis. Bullet wounds. Malaria. Scalpings. Cholera. Arrows shot into the skull. Scurvy. Rabies. Ax mishaps. Crushing by moving wagon on wheels. Outsize tumors. Snake bites. . . David Dary relates the story of Westward expansion while examining these misfortunes, and many others, from the point of view of men and women who tried to heal the often ruinously injured. The results are both a horror show and undeniably engrossing: "MASH" meets Edgar Allan Poe. He knows his material cold, and his narrative accumulates authority and dignity as it rolls along. As he piles story upon story and anecdote upon anecdote, you'll find yourself walking around the house reading horrific bits out loud to anyone who will listen, to the great distress of the squeamish." -Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Masterly . . . enthralling . . . [Dary] does an admirable job of pulling together stories about health care as practiced by the Native Americans, Lewis and Clark, Civil War doctors and even 20th-century quacks. Moving briskly from one episode to the next, Mr. Dary is particularly effective at showing us the strengths and foibles of early American doctors, an often suspect class of professionals who now and again did more harm than healing. It is entertaining, enlightening material." -Ira Rutkow, The Wall Street Journal, "Bear attacks. Syphilis. Bullet wounds. Malaria. Scalpings. Cholera. Arrows shot into the skull. Scurvy. Rabies. Ax mishaps. Crushing by moving wagon on wheels. Outsize tumors. Snake bites. . . David Dary relates the story of Westward expansion while examining these misfortunes, and many others, from the point of view of men and women who tried to heal the often ruinously injured. The results are both a horror show and undeniably engrossing: "MASH" meets Edgar Allan Poe. He knows his material cold, and his narrative accumulates authority and dignity as it rolls along. As he piles story upon story and anecdote upon anecdote, you'll find yourself walking around the house reading horrific bits out loud to anyone who will listen, to the great distress of the squeamish." -Dwight Garner,The New York Times "Masterly . . . enthralling . . . [Dary] does an admirable job of pulling together stories about health care as practiced by the Native Americans, Lewis and Clark, Civil War doctors and even 20th-century quacks. Moving briskly from one episode to the next, Mr. Dary is particularly effective at showing us the strengths and foibles of early American doctors, an often suspect class of professionals who now and again did more harm than healing. It is entertaining, enlightening material." -Ira Rutkow,The Wall Street Journal, "Bear attacks. Syphilis. Bullet wounds. Malaria. Scalpings. Cholera. Arrows shot into the skull. Scurvy. Rabies. Ax mishaps. Crushing by moving wagon on wheels. Outsize tumors. Snake bites. . . David Dary relates the story of Westward expansion while examining these misfortunes, and many others, from the point of view of men and women who tried to heal the often ruinously injured. The results are both a horror show and undeniably engrossing: "MASH" meets Edgar Allan Poe. He knows his material cold, and his narrative accumulates authority and dignity as it rolls along. As he piles story upon story and anecdote upon anecdote, you'll find yourself walking around the house reading horrific bits out loud to anyone who will listen, to the great distress of the squeamish." -Dwight Garner,The New York Times "Masterly . . . enthralling . . . [Dary] does an admirable job of pulling together stories about health care as practiced by the Native Americans, Lewis and Clark, Civil War doctors and even 20th-century quacks. Moving briskly from one episode to the next, Mr. Dary is particularly effective at showing us the strengths and foibles of early American doctors, an often suspect class of professionals who now and again did more harm than healing. It is entertaining, enlightening material." -Ira Rutkow,The Wall Street Journal From the Hardcover edition.
