14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Death wasn't the worst fate.", April 23, 2010
This review is from: Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries (Hardcover)
Molly Caldwell Crosby's "Asleep," traces a strange malady whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Encephalitis lethargica ("a swelling of the brain that makes one sleepy") "came in two waves--the first began in 1916 and peaked in 1920." A second wave struck in 1924. Today, few people remember this scourge that killed closed to a million people all over the world. One of the victims was Crosby's grandmother, Virginia Thompson Brownlee, who became ill in 1929 at the age of sixteen but was fortunate enough to survive with limited long-term effects. Tragically, many of the afflicted were children and young adults whose brains were not yet fully developed; they were not all equipped, physically or emotionally, to battle this destructive illness.
Although the symptoms of encephalitis lethargica varied from one individual to the next, some of the manifestations were: disconnectedness from one's body, lethargy, delirium, slurred speech, stiffness, seizures, tics, Parkinsonism, and extreme personality changes. Some people became catatonic or went into a deep sleep for long periods of time. Around one third recovered, one third died, and one third survived. However, some became so disabled that they were permanently institutionalized. One common thread is that many of the sufferers had recovered from the flu before they came down with encephalitis lethargica. Even those who appeared to have recovered fully were vulnerable to recurrences years later. It was almost as if a demon lay dormant in their bodies, only to reemerge when they least expected it.
Crosby divides her book into seven chapters, each of which recounts a compelling case history, including that of Jessie Morgan, the wife of financier J. P. Morgan. The author brings her subject to life not only by delving into the experiences of individual victims, but also by exploring the careers of prominent physicians who cared for patients with this ailment. Enhancing the narrative are richly described details of the social, cultural, medical, and political climate that served as a backdrop for the pandemic. Crosby puts encephalitis lethargica in context as she recounts the horrors of World War I, the influenza outbreak that killed more than twenty million people, the building boom in New York City, the amazing technological developments of the 1920's, the Stock Market Crash, the Great Depression, advances in neuropsychiatry, epidemiology, and public health, and the construction of new facilities to house the mentally ill.
Theories abound, but to this day no one knows what causes encephalitis lethargica. Oliver Sacks, the renowned writer and neurologist who wrote about his work with encephalitis patients in "Awakenings," asserts that "this strange, often terrible disease is not extinct, only quiescent. It may well strike again in our lifetimes." "Asleep" reads like a riveting novel that one wishes were merely a nightmare invented by an imaginative writer. Unfortunately, it is all too real. Crosby's facts are meticulously documented; she includes photographs, extensive endnotes, a lengthy bibliography, and a thorough index. This is a beautifully written, lucid, multilayered, and unforgettable work of non-fiction.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting from start to finish, April 2, 2010
This review is from: Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries (Hardcover)
From roughly 1915 to roughly 1926, the world saw an epidemic with strange symptoms. Most sufferers fell into a deep and nearly unbreakable sleep, though other experienced unending insomnia, Parkinson's-like symptoms, and even violent insanity. Neurologists at the time discovered through autopsies that sufferers of the disease experience a swelling of the hypothalamus (in the brain), and labeled the disease Encephalitis Lethargica - which is to say, a swelling of the brain that makes on sleepy.
But, this was a description of the effects of the disease, rather than a description of the cause. This book tells the story of the disease and its effects on the world (Did Woodrow Wilson contract the disease? And, did Hitler?), and it tells the story of the efforts to combat the disease and its effects on the science of neurology.
Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. As the title suggests, when historic epidemics are discussed, Encephalitis Lethargica never seems to show up, and yet at the time it was quite famous (or infamous). The author does an excellent job of telling the story of the disease, the world it entered, and the effects it had on the world.
I have read a number of books on diseases and epidemics (yeah, my wife thinks it's a weird subject to be interested in), and some are better than others. As for this book, it was interesting from start to finish, and a cracking good read!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Asleep" sheds light on family mystery, April 2, 2010
This review is from: Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries (Hardcover)
An interview on NPR alerted me to Ms. Crosby's book. I, too, had a grandmother diagnosed and recovered from sleeping sickness. Crosby's investigation shed light on how this disease affected families and how victims were trapped in their own bodies. Having grown up in an era where children didn't ask probing questions of family members, I found this to be a book worth sharing with siblings.
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