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The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The history of modern medicine starts sometime in the 1830s, when a few courageous physicians acknowledged that virtually everything they did - bleeding, purging, prescribing..." (more)
Key Phrases: euphoric quietude, foetal monitoring, penicillium mould, Bradford Hill, The New Genetics, The Social Theory (more...)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Much current medical advice is quackery," cautions Le Fanu in this remarkably engrossing scholarly study of medical progressAand the recent lack thereofAin the 20th century. Le Fanu (a medical columnist for London's Daily and Sunday Telegraph) contemplates what he sees as the unhappy situation of contemporary health care. The decades from the 1940s to the 1980s saw some of the most critically important advances Western medicine has seen, from penicillin to the heart pump that made open-heart surgery possible. Yet doctors are disillusioned, and patients are turning in droves to alternative forms of medicine. How has this dilemma come about? Le Fanu first details the astonishing breakthroughs of the earlier part of the 20th century (he describes, for instance, the progress made by the first patient ever administered penicillin). But, more controversially, he argues that since the 1980s medical progress has been crippled by two developments, which he terms "Social Theory" and "New Genetics," respectively: according to the author, misguided epidemiologists promote a lifestyle changes (low-cholesterol diet, etc.) as a means of preventing heart disease; and geneticists have misled us into thinking that their research breakthroughs can eliminate genetic diseases. Both cases have been overstated, Le Fanu contends, drawing on a wealth of scientific data to attempt to show that dietary changes have done little to prevent heart disease and that genetic experiments, despite "millions of hours of research," have had "scarcely detectable" practical results. He concludes with a plea to return to the traditional in the practice of medicineAthe relationship between doctor and patientAand to a renewal of faith in the diagnostic skill and judgment of one's personal physician. B&w photos. Agent, Caroline Dawnay. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

English physician and Daily Telegraph columnist Le Fanu writes a thoughtful history of the only 20th-century revolution that turned out brilliantly.During the century before 1940, people grew healthier and lived longer through improved hygiene, housing, and nutrition. Once they got sick, however, doctors weren't that much help: except for a few treatments (such as thyroid hormone, insulin, and vitamins) a patient got better pretty much on his own--or he didn't. WWII marked the beginning of a torrent of miraculous advances. To label these miracles is no hype. Dreadfully sick people received penicillin, cortisone, or lithium--and suddenly they weren't sick. Every single child who contracted leukemia in 1950 died; today almost all live. Victims of congenital heart disease or kidney failure lived as pitiful invalids if they lived at all; now they live normally. This was a wonderful period full of heroes, and Le Fanu describes it superbly in the first half of his story. Then he grows sober, thoughtful, and pessimistic. Medicine's golden age peaked in the 1960s, he writes. Important discoveries trailed off after 1970, introduction of genuinely new drugs dropped sharply, and two disturbing trends appeared. He calls one the Social Theory. Misled by triumphs of the golden age (proof that smoking causes cancer and treating hypertension prevents strokes), doctors embraced a utopian theory of prevention with enthusiasm unaccompanied by proof. Readers will be jolted by the author's claim that diet, lifestyle, and pollution contribute only marginally to ill health. Obsessive efforts to fine-tune our diet and environment (medical correctness) have, in Le Fanu's view, produced little beside anxiety. The author also takes a dim view of the New Genetics: science's fascination with DNA, genetic engineering, and genetic therapy. He points out that 20 years of expensive research, media obsession, and wildly optimistic claims have produced only minor benefits to patients. Le Fanu's doubts about prevention and genetic engineering place him in the minority among laymen as well as doctors, but he makes a convincing case in this readable and informative account. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Basic Books (February 9, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786709677
ISBN-13: 978-0786709670
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #407,166 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
The history of modern medicine starts sometime in the 1830s, when a few courageous physicians acknowledged that virtually everything they did - bleeding, purging, prescribing complicated diets - was useless. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
euphoric quietude, foetal monitoring, penicillium mould, leukaemic cells, haemoglobin gene, therapeutic revolution, dietary theory, haemoglobin protein, definitive moments

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bradford Hill, The New Genetics, The Social Theory, United States, Bob Edwards, Patrick Steptoe, Nobel Prize, Sir Richard Doll, Ancel Keys, Mayo Clinic, Philip Hench, Postgraduate Medical School, Geoffrey Rose, Peter Medawar, Joseph Murray, The Lancet, Barry Marshall, End of the Age of Optimism, John Kirklin, American Heart Association, Brigham Hospital, Fallot's Tetralogy, General Franco, Harold Hopkins, Herbert Boyer

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

The Causes of Cancer: Quantitative Estimates of Avoidable Risks of Cancer in the United States Today (Oxford medical publications) by Richard Doll on 7 pages
High Technology Medicine: Benefits and Burdens (Oxford Medical Publications) by Bryan Jennett in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Cardiac Surgery, Second Edition, Volume 1 by John W. Kirklin in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Heart Disease (Natural Way) by Richard Thomas in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Drug Prototypes and Their Exploitation by Walter Sneader in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 100 books this book cites

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The Guaifenesin Guide: For Treating Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome by Gregory K. Penniston on page 59, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Disease and the Modern World: 1500 to the Present Day (Themes in History) by Mark Harrison in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

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4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you know is wrong..., September 28, 2000

By	Adam Rutkowski (Frankfurt, Germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine (Hardcover)

Very rarely, I come across a book so enjoyable that I have to put everything else on hold until I finish reading it. This is one of those books. It combines fanscinating information, intriguing analysis, and a thoroughly enjoyable writing style.

The book is divided into two major sections: an extended prologue, and the book proper. The prologue is nearly half of the book, and it describes twelve definitive moments in medicine in the past 50 years. This section is informative and enjoyable, and the book is worth reading for this part alone.

The second section is even better. Le Fanu believes that medicine experienced its Golden Age during the fifties and sixties, and is now in decline. He provides compelling evidence in support of this claim, and his discussions on the false hopes brought about by genetics, and the falsity of the Social Theory (the theory that most of our health problems are caused by environmental factors) are great, and probably largely correct.

This is a book that I would recommend to anyone. It is easy enough for the layman to understand, and I think that those in the medical profession will get a lot out of it, whether they agree with the author or not. READ THIS BOOK!!!

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, interesting hypothesis, August 16, 2002

By	"ztoth" (Nova Scotia, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine (Hardcover)

A must read for anyone blinded by medicine's apparent glory and victories over human disease. This book exposes the past in which medicine's landmark discoveries/ events are shown to be mostly a combination of chance, persistance, mindless trial and error or even freak accident. From modern medicines illustrious history '10 definitive moments' have been selected by the author to illustrate the events that have led to the glorified status that medicine holds in our western society. Beginning with Penicillin in 1941 and ending with the discovery of Helicobacter, the cause of peptic ulcers, in 1984. These accounts make any reader wide-eyed at the simplicity of some of the research designs and truck loads of luck involved in the discoveries. This portion of the novel is full of interesting facts concerning the '10 definitive moments' written in rich narrative rather than a more conventional dry historical account to keep any reader glued to his lazy chair.

The next portion of the book is an elaborate argument for his hypothesis; that medicine has long ago reached it epiphany and is currently in the decent phase, "The Fall". He gives convincing arguments for his opinion which makes a reader think about it even if one isn't totally convinced.

The Title, "The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine" caught my attention and once I opened the book the words trapped me until the last page was turned. Even after closing the book I considered his hypothesis and reflected on it, which has spawned me to follow up on some of his references and read some of them. In my opinion any book that causes such a fury of reading, thought, and reference checking and further reading is worth a look by any casually interested reader.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good antidote to thoughtless faith in medicine, November 19, 2004

By	J. Lawrence "ashhousebooks" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Le Fanu writes extremely well, as long as he's not ranting. His coverage of the history of western medicine is informative and highly readable, if debatable on small points. His talent is creating a real story out of a collection of facts, and delivering it in a punchy and amusing way.

Le Fanu successfully communicates his main thesis - that the history of medical progress consists mainly of accidental or fortuitous discoveries, and that it is therefore not the rational machine that many people imagine it to be. We know much less about human health than you might think, and even less about how to go about improving it. Since many otherwise intelligent and well-informed people place blind faith in doctors, medicine, and in press stories about health issues, Le Fanu is performing an important public service.

The book is marred by his rants against modern medical research. While this industry undoubtedly deserves criticism, he makes a poor job of it. He ceases to support the points he makes, and since many of them are debatable, it is difficult to take this part of the book seriously. For example, he suggests shutting down all departments of epidemiology in all medical educational and research institutions. While I hold no torch for epidemiology, this strikes me as excessive, and he fails to win me over with any rational explanation as to how this would help.

Despite my reservations about the final chapters, I would highly recommend this book. Anyone who already harbours doubts or concerns about western medicine will find the book interesting. Anyone who does not really needs to read this.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars One more patronizing MD.
I knew the Doctor & I were at odds when he put "lifestyle" in quotes. To paraphrase the author: We've survived so many threats to our existance, surely we're evolved enough to not... Read more

Published 7 days ago by .

4.0 out of 5 stars The 12 definitive moments alone are worth the book
This book (written by J. Le Fanu, a medical journalist) attempts to synthetise the history of modern medicine as well as takes a critical look at present-day medical care. Read more

Published on June 6, 2003 by Pierre M�gevand

3.0 out of 5 stars Provocative - but read with a grain of salt
This is an original and provocative view of the failings of modern medicine that I would recommend to anyone in the profession. I found parts of the book uneven. Read more

Published on January 22, 2003 by Brad Freeman

5.0 out of 5 stars The rise and fall of modern medicine
This is a brilliant book and I am amazed that this is the first review. It is a 'tour de force'. It brings together many threads of the great advances of modern medicine post war... Read more

Published on February 16, 2002 by Robert Jones

4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative and infuriating survey
The Telegraph's medical columnist claims that medicine's golden age was from 1945 to 1980, due to the chance discovery of drugs, advances in clinical science and innovative... Read more

Published on August 5, 2001 by William Podmore

5.0 out of 5 stars Why things fall apart
Stunning history of medicine for the last half of the last century. Convincing exposition as to why it is all going to fall apart. Read more

Published on May 21, 2001 by Brian Williams

5.0 out of 5 stars Important for any serious medical collection
Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine provides an important survey of the major breakthroughs in modern medicine from 1945 to the 1970s, outlining medical process and barriers to... Read more

Published on February 21, 2001 by Midwest Book Review

4.0 out of 5 stars Good history but bad predicting
The historical review (about the first two-thirds) in Rise & Fall is generally excellent. It is marred by a confused date for the first successful human renal transplant and... Read more

Published on October 8, 2000 by J. A. Pittman, M.D.

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY SUPERB
This book has greatly enlightened me to the history of medicine and to the greatest advances in medicine. Read more

Published on June 23, 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY SUPERB
This book has greatly enlightened me to the history of medicine and to the greatest advances in medicine. Read more

Published on June 23, 2000

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