by Andrea Tone ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2009
Untangles the variety of complex factors that have shaped Americans’ increasing use of tranquilizers amid conflicting...
Readable, informative account of how cultural, economic and political forces have shaped the way Americans address anxiety.
Tone (Social History of Medicine/McGill Univ.; Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, 2001, etc.) draws on FDA reports, congressional investigations, court cases, popular media, interviews and letters to uncover the history of American’s love-hate relationship with tranquilizers. While Miltown, the first of the “minor tranquilizers” (as distinguished from antipsychotics and neuroleptics), did not appear on the market until 1955, the author sets the stage with a brief history of barbiturate use and the place of Freudian talk therapy in popular thinking earlier in the century. The entertainment world’s fascination with the new pill—Milton Berle started calling himself “Uncle Miltown”—and glowing coverage in the media led to middle-class acceptance of and demand for it. Pharmaceutical marketing built a base among prescribing physicians and sales boomed. Miltown seemed the chic answer to the anxieties of an edgy, duck-and-cover society attracted to quick-fix remedies. Pharmaceutical companies rushed to develop rival pills; Librium and Valium appeared in 1960 and 1963. By the ’70s, as Tone documents, concerns about dependence and side effects were growing, enthusiasm and candor about tranquilizer use were replaced by skepticism and secrecy and government concern took the form of hearings and labeling requirements. Sales declined with the rise of the consumer-health movement and concerns about the counterculture’s use of recreational drugs, but then came a new class of anti-depression drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): Prozac in 1987, followed by Paxil, Zoloft and others. As the mass marketing of pharmaceutical panaceas publicized anxiety disorders, critics claimed that ordinary social problems were being medicalized, citing as evidence the retooling of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Anxiety disorders are now a growth industry, the author notes, and the tensions of modern American life suggest that tranquilizers will continue to have loyal legions.
Untangles the variety of complex factors that have shaped Americans’ increasing use of tranquilizers amid conflicting attitudes toward them.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-465-08658-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2009
Share your opinion of this book
More by Andrea Tone
BOOK REVIEW
by Andrea Tone
by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
Share your opinion of this book
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
Share your opinion of this book
More by E.T.A. Hoffmann
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.