Medicine, 2nd edition

This is a relatively brief yet comprehensive account of the origins and early development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The volume is unmistakably the result of extensive research conducted over a number of years, as evidenced by its great detail, painstaking referencing, and historical accuaracy. Its historical and scientific value is complemented by its being absorbing and enjoyable to read. The text is divided into three parts. The first deals with the origins of a national health movement in the early part of the twentieth century, which sought to coordinate the public health activities of the U.S. government. This section also describes the meager beginnings of the NIH as the Hygienic Laboratory of Staten Island. The second part discusses the plans to broaden the Hygienic Laboratory into a new institute for drug and biomedical research, as well as the disheartening attempts to obtain private funding for the new institute. The increasingly prominent role played by the U.S. government as a potential source for funds is also described. The last part discusses the long battle waged in the attempt to pass two congressional bills: the Parker Act, which sought to centralize the public health organizations in the United States, and the Ransdell Act, which set out to create a new institute for biomedical research, namely, the NIH. A brief epilogue outlines some of the more recent developments in the NIH and the present role of the NIH as the nation's foremost biomedical research facility. Not just a history of the NIH, the book more broadly illustrates the shaping of our nation's attitude toward important issues such as public health, hygiene, and the role of basic science in combating disease. While the author nicely outlines the difficulties involved in centralizing various health services in the United States, she might have spent more time discussing the development of the NIH after the Parker and Ransdell Acts were passed. Overall, this book would appeal to those whose interests include the history of science and medicine, in particular, the development of public health policy in the United States in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.