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Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English

IF IT SOUNDS LIKE A QUACK...

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine

A bizarre, rollicking trip through the world of fringe medicine, filled with leeches, baking soda IVs, and - according to at least one person - zombies.
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments -- including some that are really non-traditional.

With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream. In these pages you'll meet medical freedom advocates including an international leech smuggler, a gold miner-turned health drink salesman who may or may not be from the Andromeda galaxy, and a man who says he can turn people into zombies with aerosol spray. One by one, these alternative healers find customers, then expand and influence, always seeking the one thing that would take their businesses to the next level--the support and approval of the government.

Should the government dictate what is medicine and what isn't? Can we have public health when disagreements over science are this profound? No, seriously, can you turn people into flesh-eating zombies? If It Sounds Like a Quack asks these critical questions while telling the story of how we got to this improbable moment, and wondering where we go from here. Buckle up for a bumpy ride... unless you're against seatbelts.

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling is a journalist specializing in narrative features and investigative reporting. He has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a George Polk Award, and been voted Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press association, among numerous other honors. He is the author of one previous book, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, and his writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, USA Today, Popular Science, Atavist Magazine, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Associated Press, and elsewhere. He lives in Vermont.
Available products
Book

Published 2023-04-01 by Public Affairs

Book

Published 2023-04-04 by Public Affairs

Comments

If you're interested in learning more about fringe medicine (while avoiding falling into the rabbit hole yourself), If It Sounds Like a Quack explores modern non-traditional medicine, talking to various advocates who seek to take alternative forms of treatment into the mainstream. Read more...

Hongoltz-Hetling revels in the weirdness as he recounts a variety of questionable alternative treatments touted by so-called medical freedom movement... Be prepared to both laugh and feel horrified.

Excerpt: That time the CDC got people hyped for a zombie apocalypse American medicine is rife with fringe science. A journalist shines a light on some of the most bizarre examples. Read more...

Raise your hand if you're completely fascinated by the whole idea of fringe medicine (think leeches, baking soda IVs, etc.)! What's interesting is that in America, there seem to be two groups of people turning toward it: people who don't trust science and people who can't afford pricey medical costs. This book digs into the stories of different "alternative medicine" providers, including an international leech smuggler. Read more...

Japanese: Hara Shobo ; Polish: Czarna

... If It Sounds Like A Quack" examines cases of those individuals who all believed they had discovered the "One True Cure." With methods as wild and as varied as leeches and laser beams, they are all people who, Hongoltz-Hetling writes, have "all undertaken journeys to the furthest fringes of health and healing." And the results are truly disturbing. Read more...

he book is a genuine scream: irreverent, very often snarky, sometimes bawdy, but always insightful and well reported. Read more...