Amanda K. reviewed The Gospel of Germs : Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life on + 27 more book reviews
I got this for one of my college classes, and although I expected it to be rather dull, it was quite interesting at parts. I would recommend it for a look into late nineteenth to early twentieth century views of disease, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Leo T. reviewed The Gospel of Germs : Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life on + 1775 more book reviews
I have not seen the book (not posted since 2011, although a hb was posted in 2014) but have an good review by Annmarie Adams of McGill University (p.106, Journal of Historical Geography, v.27(1) 2001).
"Tomes book is a much-needed social and cultural history of germ theory. While most historians of medicine have focused on the 'great' men (Pasteur, Koch, Tyndall, Lister, and others) who uncovered the existence of deadly microbes in the 1870s, Tomes, a public-health historian, looks at the impact of their discoveries on ordinary people, including women. Dr. Adams then singles out three ways in which the book is 'highly innovative.'
She criticizes the author for not sufficiently tying in how hospitals changed as germ theory developed and because the eighteen illustrations are in one group rather than each being located nearer its place in the text.
"Tomes book is a much-needed social and cultural history of germ theory. While most historians of medicine have focused on the 'great' men (Pasteur, Koch, Tyndall, Lister, and others) who uncovered the existence of deadly microbes in the 1870s, Tomes, a public-health historian, looks at the impact of their discoveries on ordinary people, including women. Dr. Adams then singles out three ways in which the book is 'highly innovative.'
She criticizes the author for not sufficiently tying in how hospitals changed as germ theory developed and because the eighteen illustrations are in one group rather than each being located nearer its place in the text.
