Our Present Complaint: American Medicine, Then and Now Book

A very good book, better written than many. It would have more power if the author wasn't making a career out of "The end of ___" as titles for books. It forces him to make things seem more dire than they are, and when things ACTUALLY ARE quite dire, his authority is easier to question. b/c he's cultivated a livelihood writing about doomsday scenarios, he's hard to read objectively.

but there is a LOT of good info and research in this book. HE makes the good point that for all the concern about terrorists attacking the food system, the system is actually attacking itself. there are certain cancers that only afflict farming regions.

Only in the last 5 pages does he talk about the actual political processes and nefarious intertwinings of gov't officials, policies and board memberships/ lobbysists that have made the breakdown of the food system possible. And yet that shitstorm is really the crux of how decisions are made and how what is evil, unsustainable and dangerous becomes legal and de rigeur.

Other examples of good info in the book: every new american baby translates into 1.7 acres of lost farm land. maize has twice the amount of genes as humans. salmonella can survive/ endure 85 proof scotch.