bookshelf

FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND?

Name: FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND?
Author: Vicki Oransky Wittenstein
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0659-9

THE SHAMEFUL HISTORY OF HUMAN MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION

by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2013

A harrowing, often gruesome, exploration of some of the darkest moments in medical history.

bookshelf

Readers may think twice about going to their next doctor appointment after reading this creepy, unsettling account of human medical experimentation.

In a dramatic, engrossing narrative, Wittenstein describes many cringe-inducing examples of the ways doctors have exploited the marginalized, powerless and voiceless of society as human guinea pigs over the centuries. African-Americans, indigenous peoples, concentration-camp inmates, orphans, prisoners, the poor, the mentally ill and disabled have been subjected to injections of lethal diseases, ingestion of radioactive materials, exposure to poisons, surgical procedures and other horrors. Some experiments did lead to important discoveries and breakthroughs, but readers are challenged to consider the costs of violating individual rights for the cause of advancing medical knowledge. Drawing on a variety of sources, including contemporary newspaper articles, medical journals and, in at least one case, a personal interview, the author lays out this troubling history. She also documents the evolution of medical ethics and the establishment of procedures for things like clinical trials for new drug treatments. Sidebars offer additional information, filling in the cracks on related issues such as eugenics and thalidomide babies. Photographs, some not particularly well reproduced, illustrate the account.

A harrowing, often gruesome, exploration of some of the darkest moments in medical history. (source notes, bibliography, suggestions for further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4677-0659-9

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner

Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein

- BOOK REVIEW
PLANET HUNTER
by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein

bookshelf

THE ANCIENT CITY

LIFE IN CLASSICAL ATHENS AND ROME

by Peter Connolly & Hazel Dodge ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1998

bookshelf

Strewn with minutely detailed cityscapes, cutaway views, and interiors, this hefty urban study recaptures the architectural glories of two great cities in their heydays, with as much specific information as assignment-driven readers or browsers could want. In a substantial text providing plenty of historical background, aided by a blizzard of sharp, full-color photos of artifacts and classical art, Connolly (Pompeii, 1990) and Dodge examine both cities’ major and minor buildings, from Bronze Age remnants through the aftermath of the Persian War (for Athens) and the great fire of a.d. 64. (for Rome), also describing government, legal systems, religious ceremonies, theater and other public amusements, fashion, daily life for people of all classes, food, water, and waste disposal. More debatable or speculative reconstructions are noted as such. Equally suited to casual readers or serious study, this takes a giant step past the Eyewitness-filled cheap seats and even beyond David Macaulay territory. (maps, diagrams, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Pub Date: May 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-19-521409-9

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998

Categories:

GENERAL HISTORY | ANCIENT | CHILDREN'S HISTORY | HISTORY

bookshelf

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

A JOURNEY DOWN THE FATHER OF WATERS

by Peter Lourie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2000

bookshelf

Intrepid explorer Lourie tackles the “Father of Waters,” the Mighty Mississippi, traveling by canoe, bicycle, foot, and car, 2,340 miles from the headwaters of the great river at the Canadian border to the river’s end in the Gulf of Mexico. As with his other “river titles” (Rio Grande, 1999, etc.), he intertwines history, quotes, and period photographs, interviews with people living on and around the river, personal observations, and contemporary photographs of his journey. He touches on the Native Americans—who still harvest wild rice on the Mississippi, and named the river—loggers, steamboats, Civil War battles, and sunken treasure. He stops to talk with a contemporary barge pilot, who tows jumbo-sized tank barges, or 30 barges carrying 45,000 tons of goods up and down and comments: “You think ‘river river river’ night and day for weeks on end.” Lourie describes the working waterway of locks and barges, oil refineries and diesel engines, and the more tranquil areas with heron and alligators, and cypress swamps. A personal travelogue, historical geography, and welcome introduction to the majestic river, past and present. (Nonfiction. 10-14)