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The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers Paperback – January 3, 2012

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Andrea Tone (Author)
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4.5 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition (January 3, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 046502520X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465025206
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 starsA good historian tells how tranx came to calm our angst, sort of
By Edward Durney VINE VOICE on February 21, 2009
Format: Hardcover
An academic historian, Andrea Tone looks at the history behind anxiety and the tranquilizers used to calm it. Other books also look at how Americans use a lot of drugs like antidepressants and tranquilizers to improve their lives rather than fight a physical illness. But those authors typically push their own view on the subject. A good historian, Tone does not.

Indeed, it's hard to know what Tone herself thinks about tranquilizers. That's good. We readers can learn the history and make a judgment for ourselves. Tone starts with a look at hundreds of years of history of mental disorders, and how anxiety played its role in that history. Then she lays out the history of the first tranquilizer, Miltown, and how it fit in with the society that took it up with such enthusiasm.

Tone ends with the backlash against tranquilizers. As society continued to change, many found that the drugs could bite instead of comfort. Instant gratification came with a price, it seemed. A price many found too high to pay.

The Age of Anxiety is not a perfect book. It turns a bit tedious at times. Not a book that was hard to put down, it was instead occasionally hard to pick up again. That said, I did find myself drawn back into the story, wanting to know what happened next.

Many interesting glimpses into social history come out of the Age of Anxiety. Some I had known, but forgotten. For instance, how heavily the threat of nuclear war hung over the America of the 1950s and 1960s. That was a worry that even I had as a young child in that era. Tone points out that in 1959 two-thirds of American adults said in a poll that nuclear war was the issue that concerned them the most.

Other glimpses I did not know.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsCompelling and Enjoyable
By John Holman on April 28, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
A long time user of minor tranquilizers myself, and an advocate of infrequent, though never daily, benzodiazepine use (currently prescribed Valium, though previously experienced with Klonopin, Ativan, Xanax and Librium) I found this book of great personal interest. It is well researched and generally entertaining, if a bit dry at times. The history of minor tranquilizers is a fascinating one and the author of this book does it great justice. I was particularly interested in the details of the Miltown craze, a drug of once universal popularity now relegated almost entirely to the chambers of history. Whether your interest is casual or scholarly, by all means pick up this book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
By damali brown on November 5, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Very well written!
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5.0 out of 5 starsAny health library needs this survey of American tranquilizer usage
By Midwest Book Review on May 11, 2009
Format: Hardcover
History and psychiatry blend in THE AGE OF ANXIETY: A HISTORY OF AMERICA'S TURBULENT AFFAIR WITH TRANQUILIZERS. The last century has seen a huge increase in anti-anxiety medication: a trend Andrea Tone charts through manufacturers' files, FDA reports, government investigations, and interviews with patients, physicians and activists alike. Any health library needs this survey of American tranquilizer usage and its physical and social impact.
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