Dr Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine

Idgie Says:

I didn't have any time in my September schedule left to review this book, but I am sure that it's intriguing premise will grab many a reader. 

 

I have below an excerpt for your reading enjoyment!

 

E-book clip URL (Chapter 3):  

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Meet the mysterious man behind the infamous museum—and learn how he changed medicine forever.

 

Dr Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn  of Modern Medicine By Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

Based on 15 years of research and illustrated with dozens of historical (and exclusive) photographs, DR. MÜTTER’S MARVELS: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine (Gotham; September 4, 2014) delves deep into the life of a man who was truly ahead of his time. Written by poet and author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz reveals Mütter’s early years as an orphan and time spent studying cutting-edge surgery in Paris, to his struggles to establish himself in Philadelphia amidst the outrageous rivalries among his  fellow doctors—many of whom publicly mocked Mütter’s philosophies and innovations (including his devotion to pre-and post-operative care, employing anesthesia, and even the sterilization of his tools).  

 

And through Mütter’s humanist eyes, we are given a front row seat to the evolution of American medicine: from bleedings and leechings to the standardization of medical schools; from the discovery of anesthesia to his community’s frustrating resistance to washing hands and sterilizing tools; from the unimaginable medical cases provoked from the rise of industrialism, to the challenges and innovations birthed as the country marched toward the Civil War. Although he only lived for 47 years, Mütter’s impact within medicine is still felt, and his legacy lives on with his enormously popular namesake museum. And now, with DR. MÜTTER’S MARVELS, his strange, inspiring and untold story can finally be shared.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz is the author of six books of poetry (including Dear Future Boyfriend, Hot Teen Slut,Working Class Represent, Oh, Terrible Youth and Everything is Everything) as well as the nonfiction book, Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, which Billy Collins wrote “leaves no doubt that the slam poetry scene has achieved legitimacy and taken its rightful place on the map of contemporary literature.” On the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) podcast Art Works, host Josephine Reed introduced Cristin as being “something of a legend in NYC’s slam poetry scene. She is lively, thoughtful, and approachable looking to engage the audience with her work and deeply committed to the community that art (in general) and slam poetry (in particular) can create.” In July 2010, she was named the 2010-2011 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, where she spent the year researching and writing a book on Thomas Dent Mütter, founder of the Philadelphia’s (in)famous Mütter Museum. It was during this residency year that she was also awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry.

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