From Library Journal
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas de Quincy were notorious for their opium dreams, but who would have thought that (as related here) Louisa May Alcott, George Washington, and Florence Nightingale were also habitues of the drug? Although opium's use spans millennia, doctors in the late 18th and 19th centuries found it invaluable in combating symptoms of the then-common plagues of cholera, tuberculosis, and dysentery. Laudanum, a potent mixture of opium, wine, and spices, became increasingly widespread, particularly prized for its mind-altering qualities by artists, writers, and neurasthenic Victorian housewives. Meanwhile, various patent medicines containing opiates, including "Soothing Syrup" for teething babies, sold at every country store. The development of morphine in the 1820s and heroin in 1898 made opium more concentrated and more addictive. British novelist and book designer Hodgson follows up her recent Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon (Chronicle, 1999) with this history of opium's derivatives. In a creative mixture of narrative, literary excerpts, photographs, and illustrations, she portrays both the allure and the danger of addiction. Her fascinating cultural history is enthusiastically recommended for public libraries. Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida Lib., St. Petersburg
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The halcyon days of laudanum and other over-the-counter narcotics are colorfully and blissfully recalled in Hodgson's enjoyable study of opium's principal alkaloid and mankind's friend--morphine. As in
Opium (1999), Hodgson delivers solid history wrapped in an illustrative continuum of vintage ads and other lush colorplates and rife with succulent historical tidbits, such as that Bismarck required a shot of morphine before addressing the annoying Reichstag. The morphine story isn't all dreamy timelessness and heightened senses, and Hodgson also discloses the seamy side, particularly the dastardly use of morphine in patent medicines, which became a powerful factor motivating subsequent strict regulation of once widely and legally procurable palliatives. A filmography, "Opium at the Movies," and a bibliography increase the richness of the opulent little book. Don't think that it is at all a pro-drug manifesto, however. It is a history of morphine's impact on popular culture that may stir readers to think more deeply about current efforts to suppress all psychoactive substances.
Mike TribbyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
