Reviews of Cholera, Chloroform, and the Science of Medicine: A Life of John Snow

"A fascinating new look at an iconic figure in the history of two very different fields, epidemiology and anaesthesiology. This ingeniously argued and carefully researched study makes a powerful case for Snow as an original thinker committed not only to medicine as an enterprise linking the clinic and the laboratory, but to the idea that it was necessarily integrative and multidisciplinary—from the molecular to the societal. It is a vision that remains illuminating—cutting edge—a century and a half after Snows influential work. The authors have made an important contribution not only to the history of biomedicine but to English social history as well."

—Charles E. Rosenberg, Ernst Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge MA

"The tale of how John Snow removed the handle from the Broad Street pump has made him the central iconic figure for the history of public health. In this meticulously documented collaborative book, the authors use extensive archival research to revise the previous mythology surrounding Snow's life and work and to reveal a far more complex and nuanced historical figure than has previously been recognized."

—Joel D. Howell MD PhD, Victor Vaughan Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine, History, and Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan

"Far and away the best thing ever written about John Snow."

— David Morens

"This is an outstanding biography. The authors have demonstrated how it is possible to reconstruct a nuanced account of someone who left few private papers behind. They also triumphantly show that John Snow was one of the most creative individuals within Victorian medicine. Snow is no longer a prophet without honour."

—W. F. Bynum, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London

To date we have located reviews by the following:

• Sally Sheard, in Lancet 362 (September 6, 2003): 839.
• P. M. E. Drury, in British Journal of Anaesthesia 91 (2003): 768–69.
• Rosalind Stanwell–Smith, in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 96 (2003): 612–13.
• Stephanie J. Snow, in New England Journal of Medicine 350 (January 1, 2004): 90–91.
• Tom Koch, in Health & Place 10 (March 2004): 115–16.
• Tom Koch, in Cartographic Perspectives 48 (Spring 2004): 62–64.
• Paul Fine, in Public Health. Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health 118 (2004): 453.
• David A. E. Shephard, in Anesthesiology 100 (June 2004): 1633–34.
• David M. Morens, in American Journal of Epidemiology 160 (2004): 605–06.
• Kenneth J. Rothman, an essay review in the form of an imaginary "Interview with John Snow," in Epidemiology 15 (September 2004): 640–44.
• Christopher Lawrence, in Medical History 48 (October 2004): 531–32.
• Robert J. T. Joy, in Bulletin of the History of Medicine 78 (November 2004): 896–97.
• Tom Koch, in Social Science & Medicine 60 (March 2005): 1163; online December 2004.
• John M. Eyler, in International Journal of Epidemiology 34 (2005): 226.