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Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine (Hardcover)

Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine Cover Image
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Description


Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine. 

​Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book.

About the Author


Thomas Hager is an award-winning author of books on the history of science and medicine, including The Alchemy of Air and Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine. He is a courtesy associate professor of journalism and communication at the University of Oregon.

Praise For…


“(An) absorbing new book”
— The New York Times Book Review

“(A) well-written and engaging chronicle”
— The Wall Street Journal

“An expert, mostly feel-good book about modern medicine.”
— Kirkus Reviews (Starred)

“Lucidly informative and compulsively readable.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Entertaining [and] insightful.”
 
— Booklist

“Well-written, well-researched and fascinating to read Ten Drugs provides an insightful look at how drugs have shaped modern medical practices.  Towards the end of the book Hager writes that he ‘came away surprised by some of the things he had learned.’  I had the very same reaction."
— Penny Le Couteur

Product Details
ISBN: 9781419734403
ISBN-10: 1419734407
Publisher: Abrams Press
Publication Date: March 5th, 2019
Pages: 304
Language: English