Product Description
From 1932 to 1972, the United States Public Health Service conducted a non-therapeutic experiment involving over 400 black male sharecroppers infected with syphilis. The Tuskegee Study had nothing to do with treatment. It purpose was to trace the spontaneous evolution of the disease in order to learn how syphilis affected black subjects. The men were not told they had syphilis; they were not warned about what the disease might do to them; and, with the exception of a smattering of medication during the first few months, they were not given health care. Instead of the powerful drugs they required, they were given aspirin for their aches and pains. Health officials systematically deceived the men into believing they were patients in a government study of "bad blood", a catch-all phrase black sharecroppers used to describe a host of illnesses. At the end of this 40 year deathwatch, more than 100 men had died from syphilis or related complications. "Bad Blood" provides compelling answers to the question of how such a tragedy could have been allowed to occur.Tracing the evolution of medical ethics and the nature of decision making in bureaucracies, Jones attempted to show that the Tuskegee Study was not, in fact, an aberration, but a logical outgrowth of race relations and medical practice in the United States. Now, in this revised edition of "Bad Blood", Jones traces the tragic consequences of the Tuskegee Study over the last decade. A new introduction explains why the Tuskegee Study has become a symbol of black oppression and a metaphor for medical neglect, inspiring a prize-winning play, a Nova special, and a motion picture. A new concluding chapter shows how the black community's wide-spread anger and distrust caused by the Tuskegee Study has hampered efforts by health officials to combat AIDS in the black community. "Bad Blood" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and was one of the "N.Y. Times" 12 best books of the year. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

important info, but could have been much more pithy
The author seemed to be trying to include as many quotes as possible to increase the number of pages in this book. The story could have been well told in one third the time. As it is, his main points are lost in the trivial details.

Love It From Jump
I was into this book the first couple of pages.I knew I would enjoy reading the book.I highly recommend.I would also like to recommend the book on Henrietta Lacks.If you don't know who she is, you should.

Bad Blood: Quality Product
The product arrived very quickly and in excellent condition.I think it was a great value for the money spent.Additionally, this book is well written.I had a hard time putting it down.I appreciate the way the author refered to political climate and social climate and how it influenced the continuation of the study.This is a great reference tool for anyone studying history, social science, or ethics in research.

fascinating
this is a truly fascinating read, and i recommend it to anyone curious.i read this at the suggestion of my psychology professor, and am still surprised by my prior ignorance to the study. bad blood is well-written and amazingly well-researched. bad blood is so intriguing that it reads like a novel, although it is actually a critique and record of a study that almost single-handedly brought about the current rules of ethics for human experimentation.

wow
very thought provoking...a must read for people who really want to know about public health and how the system (government) treated ( and perhaps to this day) treat the less privileged ... Read more

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"How a transmittable little bacterium with a twisting propellant tail...deeply affected...mankind's perception of itself."Anthony Day, Los Angeles Times

From Beethoven to Oscar Wilde, from Van Gogh to Hitler, Deborah Hayden throws new light on the effects of syphilis on the lives and works of seminal figures from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Writing with remarkable insight and narrative flair, Hayden argues that biographers and historians have vastly underestimated the influence of what Thomas Mann called "this exhilarating yet wasting disease." Shrouded in secrecy, syphilis was accompanied by wild euphoria and suicidal depression, megalomania and paranoia, profoundly affecting sufferers' worldview, their sexual behavior, and their art. Deeply informed and courageously argued, Pox has been heralded as a major contribution to our understanding of genius, madness, and creativity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Syphilomania
Probably the most ridiculous book I have ever (half-)read!It seems to have been written by a sensationalist for sex-obsessed, screwed-up voyeurs. Who can seriously think that a diagnosis of syphilis in case of Christopher Columbus could be scientifically/medically based? Perhaps he had a chicken pox?But that would not be sensationalist enough for Ms Hayden, would it?
Also, references are fiddled with to suit the most absurd hypothesis that genius must have syphilis to realise his full potential. Thomas Mann pales into insignificance with his Romantic (albeit ill-informed) ideas. Authoress - think first, and only then write, if you must!

Conspiratorial
I purchased this book as a grad student writing a chapter of a thesis on the manifestations of madness in Nietzsche's philosophy.I was both excited and crest-fallen to read the chapter on Nietzsche because I thought I had come up with something semi-original in connecting the chauvenism of his late work with the final stages of the pox, however, Hayden makes this same argument.The Flaubert chapter also reenforced some of my earlier work. I wish I'd run into this book a year ago.As my title suggests, it is a bit conspiratorial at times, but Hayden makes a good effort to introduce the controversy while emphasizing the most likely options.Not quite-psychobiography, more archeological in its approach, Pox would be an excellent methodological model for anyone writing a history of a specific disease, drug, or anything else that has had reprocussions in the intellectual community.If you liked this book, I would recommend Kay Jamison's, Touched with Fire which connects Manic Depressive illness with the artistic temprament.

Oh Please!!!
I completely agree with the reader who reviewed this book on January 30, 2003.The conclusions suggested in this book are silly and irresponsible.It is written by someone who is obviously not a health care professional.She also has little understanding of the nature of creation of great artistic works.This book is little more than bringing a tabloid home from the grocery store.Can she really think that such superb artistic accomplishment is the result of syphilis?If this is true, considering the infection rates of previous generations, we should have had myriads more artistic geniuses running around.If you are inclined to take this book seriously in any way, please do some additional study.I would suggest starting with a wonderful book on musical genius, "The Possessor and the Possessed" by Peter Kivy.This academic book addresses the musical genius of Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven seriously and is part of the Yale series on the philosophy and theory of art.I am sure as time passes, Deborah Hayden's book will be dismissed as the worst of journalism.
Let us look at Beethoven for instance.Beethoven was a child prodigy and gave his first piano concert in his eight year.His talent for improvisation was recognized very early.One of Beethoven's early teachers refused to teach Beethoven very long because he said the youngster already knew everything he was trying to teach him. Mozart, after listening to a young Beethoven on the piano, said to others in the room, "Watch that boy.Someday he will give the world something to talk about."Goethe, the famous German poet and dramatist, said after meeting Beethoven many years later, "Never have I met an artist of such spiritual concentration and intensity."
Please, fellow readers, be discerning in what you read and what you take from it. I have read approximately 35 books on Beethoven, including biographies written by Beethoven scholars past and present and not one has ever alluded to something as absurd as the ideas put forth by Ms. Hayden.Never believe something simply because it in print.Question, research, and find the truth.Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to listen to some of Beethoven's sonatas and symphonies and hear actual manifestations of genius while you are at it.

POX:Genius, Madness and the Mysteries of Syphilis
An incredible read of a disease that may affect so many of our lives today from infected parents and grandparents. The authors research and insights are revealing and insightful. I have found syphilis in my family doing genealogy research and Deborah Haydon has helped illunminate my family history and will be highlighted in my new book Lotties Lot. Nancy O'Connor PhD

Well Written Study About Syphilis History and its Effect on Great Historical Personalities
This book is well written and guides the reader through a detailed investigation about the possible effects of Syphilis on great historical personalities like Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Baudelaire, Abraham Lincoln, Flaubert Maupassant van Gogh, Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, Karen Blixen, James Joyce, and Adolf Hitler. Many of these historical giants were burdened by toxic medicines that ultimately lead to insanity and death. ... Read more

Product Description
Between 1932 and 1972, approximately six hundred African American men in Alabama served as unwitting guinea pigs in what is now considered one of the worst examples of arrogance, racism, and duplicity in American medical research—the Tuskegee syphilis study. Told they were being treated for "bad blood," the nearly four hundred men with late-stage syphilis and two hundred disease-free men who served as controls were kept away from appropriate treatment and plied instead with placebos, nursing visits, and the promise of decent burials. Despite the publication of more than a dozen reports in respected medical and public health journals, the study continued for forty years, until extensive media coverage finally brought the experiment to wider public knowledge and forced its end.

This edited volume gathers articles, contemporary newspaper accounts, selections from reports and letters, reconsiderations of the study by many of its principal actors, and works of fiction, drama, and poetry to tell the Tuskegee story as never before. Together, these pieces illuminate the ethical issues at play from a remarkable breadth of perspectives and offer an unparalleled look at how the study has been understood over time. ... Read more

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The forty-year "Tuskegee" Syphilis Study has become the American metaphor for medical racism, government malfeasance, and physician arrogance. The subject of histories, films, rumors, and political slogans, it received an official federal apology from President Bill Clinton in a White House ceremony.

Susan M. Reverby offers a comprehensive analysis of the notorious study of untreated syphilis, which took place in and around Tuskegee, Alabama, from the 1930s through the 1970s. The study involved hundreds of African American men, most of whom were told by the doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service that they were being treated, not just watched, for their late-stage syphilis. Reverby examines the study and its aftermath from multiple perspectives to explain what happened and why the study has such power in collective memory. She follows the study's repercussions in facts and fictions.

Reverby highlights the many uncertainties that dogged the study during its four decades and explores the newly available medical records. She uncovers the different ways it was understood by the men, their families, and the health care professionals, ultimately revising the conventional wisdom on the study.

Writing with rigor and clarity, Reverby illuminates the events and aftermath of the study and sheds light on the complex knot of trust, betrayal, and belief that keeps this study alive in our cultural and political lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Little slow on the shipping
The book came within the time stated, but I received two other books that were ordered on the same day at least a week before this one arrived. Again, it came within the time stated.

More information on the website
I want to let Amazon customers know there is also a website linked to the book, just google the book title, [...].It has more photographs, data, and an extended frequently asked questions sections than the book could contain. Susan M.Reverby
... Read more

Product Description
The emergence of syphilis at the end of the 15th century, had a profound effect on the history of Western civilization during the Renaissance. Working from primary sources, the author shows how syphilis spread across England, what its effects were, the range of cures used, and what preventive measures were taken against it. He shows how syphilis brought about a profound change of manners and morals during the Renaissance, leading to an emphasis on monogamy, premarital chastity and absolute fidelity within marriage. He suggests that, in many ways, syphilis presents a paradigm for our latest venereal epidemic becaouse of the numerous parallels between syphilis and AIDS. Fabricius' other publications include "Alchemy: The Medieval Alchemists and Their Royal Art" (1976), and "Shakespeare's Hidden World: A Study of His Unconscious" (1989). ... Read more

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This up-to-date and comprehensive electronic book on CD-ROM covers the infamous U.S. Public Health Service syphilis study at Tuskegee along with an incredible and totally revised collection of important documents and publications about bioethics, including the work and reports of the President's Council on Bioethics. Encyclopedic coverage of every practical aspect of bioethics is thoroughly covered in this incredible collection! This CD-ROM uses next-generation search technology that allows complete indexing and makes all files on the disc fully searchable.Nearly 65 years after the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee began, President Clinton apologized for the U.S. government's role in the research study, which was carried out in Macon County, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972. The United States Public Health Service, in trying to learn more about syphilis and justify treatment programs for blacks, withheld adequate treatment from a group of poor black men who had the disease, causing needless pain and suffering for the men and their loved ones. In the wake of the Tuskegee Study and other studies, the federal government took a closer look at research involving human subjects and made changes to prevent the moral breaches that occurred in Tuskegee from happening again. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program is a congressionally mandated program that provides comprehensive lifetime medical and health benefits to the affected widows and offspring of study participants. A total of 17 widows, children, and grandchildren are currently receiving benefits. The vast majority of the participants reside in the Alabama area, while others live in the Midwestern and Northeastern parts of the United States. Annual visits are made to the clients to ensure that they are receiving medical services without any problems, and to resolve any health-related problems they may be experiencing. The visits also enable the program staff and health care representatives the opportunity to interact on a personal basis about the clients' health care needs.Bioethics topics covered include:Age-Retardation (life extension) * Aging and End-of-Life * Beyond Therapy (Enhancement) * Biotechnology and Public Policy * Bioethics in Literature * Cloning * Children * Death * Drugs and Children * Behavior Control * Genetics * Health Care * Human Dignity * Memory Boosting and Suppression * Mood Control * Nanotechnology * Newborn Screening * Organ Transplantation * Professions * Property in the Body * Research Ethics * Sex Selection * Stem Cells * Protecting Human Subjects in Research * Compensating for Research Injuries * Defining Death * Research on the Fetus * Research involving Prisoners * Research Involving Children * Psychosurgery * Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment * Securing Access to Health Care * Embryo Research * Research Involving Persons with Mental Disorders * Huge Library of Reports and Discussion Papers ... Read more

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Social and cultural factors, as well as medical ones, help to shape the way we understand and react to diseases.In the case of a disease associated with sex, social and cultural factors figure especially large in its history. For example, moral and religious views influence almost everything connected with sex, and that includes sexually transmitted diseases.Syphilis thus provides an excellent case study to help understand the history of disease in a broader human context.This book covers the history of syphilis in America, from Colonial times to the present, as well as laying bare the origins and spread of the disease in Europe.

Several themes explored in the book illustrate ways in which non-medical factors influence our views of a disease and our reaction to it.One of these themes is the tendency to focus blame for the spread of a disease on a particular group (e.g., women, blacks, sinners). The balance between protecting the rights of individuals and protecting the public health, in issues such as whether to quarantine the infected and whether to require mandatory testing for the disease, is another theme. A third theme is the persistent reluctance of many Americans to discuss venereal disease openly because it involves sex, a subject that we are often not comfortable talking about.

Customer Reviews (1)

An Excellent Account of Medical Science and American Values
John Parascandola, former historian of the Public Health Service, and a veteran of several other public historian positions in the federal government, received the George Pendleton Prize for 2009 for this book, and the award was well deserved. "Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America," published by Praeger of the Greenwood Publishing Group, is a seminal work. In it the author presents a fascinating account of how social and cultural factors, in addition to medical ones, helped to shape the way we understand and react to diseases, especially one so publicly charged as syphilis.

In this example--because of its association with sexual promiscuity--social, cultural, moral, and religious factors loom large in its history. As Parascandola shows, syphilis as a disease illustrates the ways in which non-medical factors influence our views of a disease and our reaction to it. He offers a fascinating perspective on the tendency to focus blame for the spread of a disease on particular marginalized groups in America. He discusses the delicate balance between protecting the rights of individuals and furthering the health of the public. These are manifest in numerous ways; right to privacy versus public awareness are central to this concern but are complicated by the hesitancy of Americans to discuss venereal disease openly because it also involves a discussion of sex.

"Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America" is a valuable and even-handed work by a veteran scholar of medicine that should help inform public policy. ... Read more

Product Description
From its appearance in Europe at the end of the 15th century until its cure with the discovery of penicillin, syphilis has inspired wildly varying -- & culturally revealing -- theories about its origin, nature, & treatment. Here, Quetel chronicles five centuries of medical detective work & official management of a virulent disease that quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Drawing parallels with the medical & social campaigns against AIDS, Quetel notes that the history of syphilis has a surprisingly contemporary resonance. In addition to tracing the history of the medical conceptualizations of syphilis & the attendant therapies for the disease, Quetel also charts the cultural representations of syphilis over a period of 500 years. Illustrations. ... Read more

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One of the first books to challenge the conventional HIV/AIDS hypothesis. While some of the research behind this book has since been updated, the underlying theme is still valid: the evidence for HIV causation of AIDS is slim if it exists at all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting
One of the first books questioning the HIV/AIDS hypothesis, and still one of the best. This book suggests that AIDS is late stage syphilis. 20 years later, late stage syphilis is still highly plausible.

Groundbreaking work!
One of the first books to challenge the conventional HIV/AIDS hypothesis. Some of the research is a bit dated but the underlying theme is still valid: the evidence for HIV causation of AIDs is slim if it exists atall.

More recent books challenging the HIV/AIDS theory such as RethinkingAIDS are more relevant than AIDS and Syphillis but it's still an excellentbook.

Shockingly ignorant
The data and analysis are outdated and, more importantly, dangerous!

I question the value of having this 11 year old book still in print, when we have made leaps and bounds in the search of the cause and cure of HIV/AIDS since then. ... Read more

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Product Description
In 1932, the U.S. Public Health

Service recruited 623 African

American men from Macon County, Alabama, for a study of "the effects of untreated syphilis in the Negro male." For the next 40 years—even after the development of penicillin, the cure for syphilis—these men were denied medical care for this potentially fatal disease. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was exposed in 1972, and in 1975 the government settled a lawsuit but stopped short of admitting wrongdoing. In 1997, President Bill Clinton welcomed five of the Study survivors to the White House and, on behalf of the nation, officially apologized for an experiment he described as wrongful and racist. In this book, the attorney for the men describes the background of the Study, the investigation and the lawsuit, the events leading up to the Presidential apology, and the ongoing efforts to see that out of this painful and tragic episode of American history comes lasting good. ... Read more

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This is a revised collection of articles which were previously published in "Encounter", the most substantial addition being the extracts from treaties on demonology. It contains a forecast of the social impact of Aids in the light of the history of older diseases. The author also wrote "Social Sciences as Sorcery", "The African Predicament", "Parasitism and Subversion in Latin America"; "The Uses of Comparative Sociology", "Military Organization and Society", "The Prospect of a Revolution in the USA"; "Max Weber's Insights and Errors". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

stanislav andreski never answered my letter
I've just got hold of a copy of Stanislav Andreski's "Syphilis, Puritanism and Witchunts".It's been many years since I read it and I thought perhaps my indignation at my first reading was simply a youthfully misguided reading of the text.But I think the following quote makes it pretty unequivocally clear what Andreski's position on people living with AIDS is... from p. 156 "among the carriers of AIDS there is likely to be a disproportionate number of alienated individuals, because the risk increases with the preference for promiscuity which is connected with cold self-centred sensuality or loveless vanity."And there are many more where that came from.It looks and sounds like a scholarly text if all you have is the bibliographic details, but reading it you discover it is actually simply a moralistic diatribe.If you hate moral stereotyping, avoid this book like the plague (apologies for the pun)!!!!Oh yeah, and he never answered my letter... ... Read more

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The Third Great Plague - A Discussion of Syphilis for Everyday People is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by John H. (John Hinchman) Stokes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of John H. (John Hinchman) Stokes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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Originally published in 1919.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more