GOLDBERGER'S WAR: The Life and Times of a Public Health Crusader

The title in this fascinating history refers not to any military battle, but to a doctor's successful fight against the disease known as pellagra. Until Joseph Goldberger proved otherwise in the early 20th century, the illness, a scourge of the South, was believed to be an infectious disease. Goldberger's diligent research and tireless campaigning demonstrated that it was, in fact, due to dietary deficiencies. (Later researchers showed that pellagra resulted from a lack of niacin.) Using both primary and secondary documents, Kraut, a professor of history at American University, traces Goldberger's life from his late–19th-century childhood on the Lower East Side of New York City to his rise through the U.S. Public Health Service. This story follows an immigrant's rise in America, but in Kraut's hands, it is more than just a biography; it is also a history of science. Kraut shows how Goldberger worked to push for the eradication of the disease—even using radical methods, such as injecting forms of the disease into himself, his wife and other subjects. Kraut also subtly demonstrates how such factors as religion, class and regionalism played themselves out in Goldberger's life. The son of Orthodox Jews, Goldberger married the grandniece of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, but not before both families struggled with the intermarriage. And as Kraut shows in this engaging and multilayered American history, much of the fight against Goldberger's findings came from Southerners who were concerned that his work would reinforce the region's image as backward. (Aug.)