author
James Harvey Young
1915–2006
A pioneering social historian, he turned the colorful world of patent medicines, medical fraud, and food regulation into lively, deeply researched history. His books helped readers see how Americans have long wrestled with health claims, consumer protection, and the lure of miracle cures.
1 Audiobook
Old English Patent Medicines in America
by George B. Griffenhagen, James Harvey Young
About the author
For decades, James Harvey Young was one of the leading historians of quackery, patent medicines, and food and drug regulation in the United States. Born in Brooklyn in 1915, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and went on to a long career at Emory University, where he taught history beginning in the early 1940s.
Young became especially known for writing history that was both scholarly and entertaining. Works such as The Medical Messiahs and The Toadstool Millionaires explored the world of dubious cures and medical showmanship, while his later books traced the fight for safer food and drug laws in America. Again and again, he showed how public health, advertising, politics, and popular belief shaped everyday life.
Colleagues and former students remembered him as a gifted teacher with a lively presence in the classroom. He died in 2006, but his work remains a touchstone for readers interested in the strange, revealing history of American medicine and consumer protection.