Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Apothecary's Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How It Became a Commodity

The Apothecary's Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How It Became a Commodity

Gevirtz, Karen Bloom

Paperback

Medical ReferenceGeneral World History

Publisher Price: $24.95

ISBN10: 0520430816
ISBN13: 9780520430815
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Feb 3 2026
Pages: 346
Weight: 1.10
Height: 0.80 Width: 6.00 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
A lively medical, scientific, and economic history.--Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Best Nonfiction Books of 2024, Kirkus Reviews

A timely reminder that the current greed-based healthcare system is a relatively recent man-made scheme.--Forbes

A groundbreaking genealogy of for-profit healthcare and an urgent reminder that centering women's history offers vital opportunities for shaping the future.

The running joke in Europe for centuries was that anyone in a hurry to die should call the doctor. As far back as ancient Greece, physicians were notorious for administering painful and often fatal treatments--and charging for the privilege. For the most effective treatment, the ill and injured went to the women in their lives. This system lasted hundreds of years. It was gone in less than a century.

Contrary to the familiar story, medication did not improve during the Scientific Revolution. Yet somehow, between 1650 and 1740, the domestic female and the physician switched places in the cultural consciousness: she became the ineffective, potentially dangerous quack, he the knowledgeable, trustworthy expert. The professionals normalized the idea of paying them for what people already got at home without charge, laying the foundation for Big Pharma and today's global for-profit medication system. A revelatory history of medicine, The Apothecary's Wife challenges the myths of the triumph of science and instead uncovers the fascinating truth. Drawing on a vast body of archival material, Karen Bloom Gevirtz depicts the extraordinary cast of characters who brought about this transformation. She also explores domestic medicine's values in responses to modern health crises, such as the eradication of smallpox, and what benefits we can learn from these events.

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