The Apothecary's Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How It Became a Commodity - Paperback

by Karen Bloom Gevirtz (Author)

"A lively medical, scientific, and economic history."--Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Best Nonfiction Books of 2024, Kirkus Reviews

"A timely reminder that the current greed-based healthcare system is a relatively recent man-made scheme."--Forbes

A groundbreaking genealogy of for-profit healthcare and an urgent reminder that centering women's history offers vital opportunities for shaping the future.

The running joke in Europe for centuries was that anyone in a hurry to die should call the doctor. As far back as ancient Greece, physicians were notorious for administering painful and often fatal treatments--and charging for the privilege. For the most effective treatment, the ill and injured went to the women in their lives. This system lasted hundreds of years. It was gone in less than a century.

Contrary to the familiar story, medication did not improve during the Scientific Revolution. Yet somehow, between 1650 and 1740, the domestic female and the physician switched places in the cultural consciousness: she became the ineffective, potentially dangerous quack, he the knowledgeable, trustworthy expert. The professionals normalized the idea of paying them for what people already got at home without charge, laying the foundation for Big Pharma and today's global for-profit medication system. A revelatory history of medicine, The Apothecary's Wife challenges the myths of the triumph of science and instead uncovers the fascinating truth. Drawing on a vast body of archival material, Karen Bloom Gevirtz depicts the extraordinary cast of characters who brought about this transformation. She also explores domestic medicine's values in responses to modern health crises, such as the eradication of smallpox, and what benefits we can learn from these events.

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"Trenchant, witty, and erudite, The Apothecary's Wife is a timely reminder that the profit-driven commodification of healthcare and medicine in our society is neither natural nor preordained, but rather man-made. Gevirtz's book uncovers the largely forgotten domestic origins of those sciences, centering women in that history. It's a story everyone should know."--Jon Michaud, author of Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar

"Truly splendid. Gevirtz not only creates a more nuanced history of medicine, but also makes a strong case that our medical practices today are not inevitable but the result of professional and institutional choices. A significant contribution to our understanding of medicine, economics, and gender."--Marilyn Francus, Professor Emerita of English at West Virginia University

"Economic, scientific, and social history combine in this extraordinary, rigorously researched, revisionist account of the crucial role domestic medicine played in the past--and how it might point to a healthier future."--Paul Lay, author of Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate

"A rich and pacey narrative history setting out the position of women during the commodification of medicine."--Sara Read, author of The Gossips' Choice

Author Biography

Karen Bloom Gevirtz spent nearly three decades as a professor of English at American universities while also specializing in gender studies and medical humanities.