Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs

I collect Civil War medical and surgical antiques and needed back ground on this area. I found Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs to be an excellent book, well researched and documented. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know what the doctors during the Civil War really knew and how their treatments were performed. Dr. Michael Echols American Surgical Antiques

After reading this book it is easy to understand the tremendous task in gathering the amount of information author Alfred Jay Bollet had to assemble on the subject. With 444 pages of material and also quite a lot of references to back up the chapters this book is exceptional. Bollet covers a multitude of areas in the world of the medical care featuring early war ill-preparation, being overwhelmed, medical science, surgery, amputations, wounds, hospitals, drugs, diseases, prison camps and important individuals of the time. Every chapter offers added insight featuring biographies on people that may have had influence on the subject being written about that adds more intrigue to this book. This book is very comprehensive and fair to all parties involved often bringing to light the importance of doctors and nurses through out the entire war and it's aftermath. Another interesting aspect of this book is that it discourages the myths and stereotypes of doctors during the Civil War that have survived to this day. I recommend this book to anyone who studies medicine or the Civil War as much insight can be gained from this very thorough book.

I'm a master docent ... and I love this book. The book does a terrific job of blasting the stereotypes which often portray doctors of the time as either incompetent or uncaring. Civil War surgeons were not "saw happy" and, with rare exceptions, soldiers on the edge of the battlefield were sufficiently anesthetized during all surgical procedures. Dr. Bollet establishes both of these facts right up front. Bollet's book does a wonderful job of clearing up the picture of medicine during this American conflict. In the decade before the war, surgeons at Massachusett's General Hospital performed, on average, fewer than 200 operations each year; during the war, surgeons would perform in excess of 40,000 operations. A great deal was learned in the process, and Bollet recounts it all. As a museum docent, I am reading this book with highlighter in hand. ...

Dr. Bollet has scored an Olympic gold medal with a work that is a perfect "10." He has done a superlative job of setting the record straight about the medical professionals who served in the armies of the North and South during the American Civil War. In one volume, Dr. Bollet has dispelled many, if not all, of the erroneous "facts" that have been perpeturated since the conflict, some attributed to renowned historians. He has presented a balanced narrative of the extraordinary efforts of the Civil War doctors and nurses, who are largely unsung. The volume is well written, easy to read, and contains much new information. Dr. Bollet's work is sure to become THE standard reference on Civil War medicine and should be the foundation of any Civil War medical library.

My own point of view is shaped by forty years as a physician, and being a clinical faculty member at two medical schools. You'll find my name on two Civil War medical books: Swamp Doctor and Tarnished Scalpels. I've read all the standard texts on Civil War medicine. Bollet's is free of the usual misapprehensions, and presents a very balanced view of every subject. I learned something new in every chapter. The writing and editing is excellent. For a general text on the subject, none is finer.