Protecting America's Health - by Philip J Hilts (Paperback)

About the Book

Emerging out of Theodore Roosevelt's desire to civilize capitalism, the Food and Drug Administration was created to stop the trade in adulterated meats and quack drugs. This history of the agency takes readers back to its beginnings, and makes startlingly clear the essential role the FDA has played in maintaining the quality of life and health to which the American public has long been accustomed.

Book Synopsis

In this history of the Food and Drug Administration, Philip J. Hilts analyzes the century-long, continuing struggle to establish scientific standards as the basis for policymaking on food and drugs. The agency, which emerged out of the era of the robber barons and Theodore Roosevelt's desire to "civilize capitalism," was created to stop the trade in adulterated meats and quack drugs. In addition to highlighting the essential role the FDA plays in making sure that food and drugs are safe and effective, Protecting America's Health shows that FDA regulation, far from stifling innovation -- as critics feared -- has actually accelerated it.

Review Quotes

"Protecting America's Health is a history of the FDA from its origins as a tiny office within the Department of Agriculture in the nineteenth century to the battles over tobacco and AIDS during the 1990s. A lesser writer might have produced a dreary tome on such a topic. But Hilts . . . brings his story to life by populating it with characters worth rooting for -- and, in some cases, against."--American Prospect

"A well-researched, well-documented, and well-indexed history of an agency whose policies and decisions are respected and emulated throughout the world."--Journal of the American Medical Association

"Because history does repeat itself, and because we depend on the FDA to ensure our safety, this book is important. Those who are curious about what the FDA can and cannot do will enjoy the revelations and thought-provoking argument."--New England Journal of Medicine

"Hilts authoritatively chronicles the permanent struggle between greed and social responsibility . . . He skillfully reconstructs how a handful of concerned people . . . took the nation's health to heart and helped prolong lives once lost to or shortened by quackery. . . . Always fully in command of the science and the politics, Hilts's history of the agency's turbulent times is informative and rewarding."--Washington Post

"Hilts writes both with a historian's attention to dissection and analysis and with the flourish and vividness of an experienced journalist aware of the drama inherent in the story he is telling."--Sherwin Nuland, M.D., New York Times Book Review

"Hilts's book forcefully captures the complexity and the drama of the government's attempt to oversee the imperfect science of medical treatment. It is a genuinely important book, rich in history, accurate in detail, unflinching in analysis. Above all, it causes us to think differently about the FDA, which has so often served as a convenient whipping boy for frustrated constituencies across the political spectrum."--Jerome Groopman, M.D., New Republic

"This book offers a sober reminder of the importance of maintaining vigorous protections against the dangers of profit-motivated decisions."--Publishers Weekly

"This fascinating look at the inside story [of the FDA] reveals how disastrous unfettered capitalism would be without reasonable regulation."--Booklist