However, these authors did emphasize their next major point that the problems of disease and general ill-health resulted in discussion of both medical and social opinions on how to solve these problems. Dowler's account of Bostonian health debate explains that the beginning of unified public health organizations began because there were so many conflicting opinions on how to solve emerging medical crisis of the city. They are success and persuasive in their argumentation because they cite primary sources on the many conflicting opinions from differing sectors of society. Not only did doctors have an opinion on how to cure diseases, but politicians also interjected their opinions on the social issues that need to be resolved in order to prevent disease and promote public health (pg. 68). The strength the authors' rhetoric in these discussions is that they do not "tell" but "show" us the confusion of public health officials during this era through the direct analysis of many primary source materials.
The final argument of this book is that the beginnings of public health organizations was the result of having many different control measures open to health officials but no unifying body to control and implement them. The need for centralization even within cities was clear during this era, because while control mechanisms on a city wide level were in place, such as prohibition of dumping of chemicals in drinking water, or the overuse of certain products in foods, there was no governing body to administer these changes (pg. 28). Ultimately the creation of public health organizations was the organic outgrowth of prohibitive efforts and control measures (pg. 71).
The reason that this particular book is very respected...
During the early to mid 1800s, the United States did not have a centralized governing public health body and as a result, the only way to provide a holistic understanding of how public health organizations began is to look not at one particular organization or region, but the vast growth of urban social systems to promote public health. The essence of this book is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how the social, political, economic and medical conditions of this particular era contributed to the growth of governmental and centralized responses to the growing crisis of disease control.
Although this book is successful in providing a very panoramic view of the growth of public health organizations, it is at times confusing because the editors present the essays in full without providing the circumstantial understanding of what each author discusses. This book would have been much more useful had the editors contributed an explanation and annotation of key concepts within each of these readings so that readers can easily understand key words and phrases that each author assumes are intelligible to their reader. However, the very fact that these works were collected together in one volume is extremely helpful to the overall understanding of medical history in this context. Therefore this book has successfully accomplished its mission and is a substantially enriching resource for the teaching of American medical and public health history.
Charles Rosenberg, advisory ed. Origins of Public Health in America: Selected Essays 1820-1855. New York, Arno Press and the…
