13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Worthy Replacement for Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray, May 13, 2002
This review is from: Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs (Hardcover)
Few works on Civil War medicine have been published to as many positive pre-publication reviews as Dr. Alfred Jay Bollet's new book, **Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs**. ...
Dr. Bollet spells out his goal in the introduction to the book: dispelling the many enduring myths about surgeons on both sides during the war, and detailing the extraordinary contributions of this long-maligned group. He especially decries the lack of context that previous historical works, even classics such as Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray, provide when discussing Civil War medicine:
Dr. Bollet was born in New York City, graduated from New York University, and spent his professional career in academic medicine, serving as a professor of internal medicine at the University of Virginia, the Medical College of Georgia and State University of New York at Brooklyn. Dr. Bollet is a lifelong student of all aspects of the Civil War. He had always fascinated by history, as was his wife, who had a Masters degree in history. The Civil War was always a subject that he wanted to know more about, when he could devote more time to it.
Since retiring from academic medicine about seven years ago, Dr. Bollet has studied the medical history of the war extensively. Curiously, he first came to the topic with the same conventional wisdom that his book dispels: he expected to find a lot to criticize, but was greatly surprised by what he found, and just kept going further into the subject.
Dr. Bollet has presented lectures on various aspects of Civil War medicine at many medical schools, Civil War round tables, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of more than four-dozen medical journal articles, including several on medical history. Dr. Bollet serves on the Honorary Board of Advisors of the Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD, and is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Civil War Surgeons (SOCWS).
In the opening chapter, Dr. Bollet acknowledges the first year of the Civil War "was a medical disaster." He also asserts, however, that all of the military departments were unprepared for the war; a fact often missed by critics pointing to early failures of the medical profession. His brief review of lessons learned by European armies during the Crimean War helps set the stage for describing improvements made during the Civil War.
In his chapter "Sects and Science," Dr. Bollet describes the state of medical science in the early and mid-19th century. His premise is that to "accurately evaluate the quality of Civil War medical care, it is necessary to review the actual state of medical science at that time." The chapter includes biographies of prominent physicians and the state of medical education in Europe and the United States.
Most interesting is Dr. Bollet's excellent rebuttal of the conventional wisdom that Civil War-era physicians lagged behind their European counterparts in the use of medical instruments. He points out that historians who criticize the infrequent use of thermometers fail to recognize that "bedside thermometry" was not an established practice until after the war. Dr. Bollet also supplies evidence that the stethoscope was in wide use among surgeons, and that microscopes were skillfully used for the diagnosis of diseases.
Indeed, Dr. Bollet greatly admires one of the war's microscope experts, Dr. Joseph Woodward, feeling that he is an unsung hero who deserves to be remembered. Woodward worked in the Surgeon General's office where he penned two important manuals, one for hospital stewards and another about camp diseases. He also compiled the data and wrote most of the medical sections of the Medical and Surgical History. The end of Woodward's life was marked by tragedy: he was the main physician in attendance when President James Garfield was assassinated, and was widely criticized for not appreciating the importance of avoiding contamination of Garfield's wound. That criticism lead to Woodward's depression, hospitalization, and perhaps his suicide, leaving his work on the Medical and Surgical History undone.
Other chapters in the book discuss surgery, field and general hospitals, the evolution of the "Letterman system," therapeutic drugs, medical treatment in prisoner of war camps, and the contributions made by women during the war. A good third of the book is devoted to an excellent discussion of the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
In each chapter Dr. Bollet discusses the challenge faced by the surgeon, provides context by describing the knowledge available at the time, debunks longstanding myths when necessary, and addresses the advances and triumphs that are often missed by critics. The book is well documented and amply illustrated, with many photographs and drawings from period texts and newspapers.
In my opinion, the best aspect of the book is that Dr. Bollet provides "multiple points of entry": a quick flip through the pages reveals dozens of short and interesting sidebars giving medical anecdotes, biographies, and other items of historical interest that can be read in a few minutes time.
I would like to add my voice to the chorus of enthusiastic reviews: in the humble opinion of this reviewer, the book is an excellent read and is a worthy replacement of classics such as Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray.
In the book's conclusion, Dr. Bollet notes that our country's landscape is dotted with any number of statues commemorating hometown soldiers and favorite generals, yet perhaps due to longstanding misconceptions, no village has a monument to a Civil War surgeon. His new book, Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs, will go a long way towards correcting some of these myths.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a first rate medical history, July 30, 2003
This review is from: Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs (Hardcover)
Bollet has written a first rate book on the practice of military medicine in the Civil War. "Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs" is well-organized, approachable to the non-Civil War History buff or those lacking in a medical background, addresses both Confederate as well as Union history (a standard failing in many Civil War works), and dispells many myths about the standards of Civil War medical practices.
At the onset of the War, the American medical community faced a problem no less difficult than that of their military counterparts: mobilizing to handle the vast numbers of diseased and injured men that a major war would confront them with. They confronted many of the same difficulties as well: political meddling, hidebound regular Army leadership, and having to learn by doing. Bollet does an excellent job of describing how the combatants (the Union in particular) produced excellent military medical establishments, but only after learning from their own numerous mistakes.
He also examines the state of medical practice at the time, with an eye towards dispelling the many myths that have grown up around Civil War surgery (and continue to be espoused by historians today - historians who ought to know better). After laying down the facts (and the state of medicine at the time makes a fascinating study), he takes the very necessary next step of comparing American medical practice during the war to the two next best yardsticks: the Crimean War preceeding the conflict, and the Franco-German War which followed it. With those comparisons in mind, even at some of their absolute worst moments, American military medicine was doing far better than their European counterparts in saving lives.
It is a good book and will be an engaging read for any Civil War buff.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
