I have it for you. I know you’ve been looking for a thundering good novel about one or more cocaine addicts, who eviscerate their lives and die in agony, as a Christmas gift for all your grandchildren or nieces and nephews. Order now while in stock, this will be the number one cocaine book for the holidays.
If additionally, you want to read the best treatment of the effects of cocaine upon Sigmund Freud, the Apostle Paul of psychiatry; and William Halsted, Saint Peter of modern surgery, take as your gospel Howard Markel’s An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine.
Thoroughly researched and wonderfully illustrated, the book is a fast read that stimulates imagination and grounds thinking. Markel could have titled the book ”The Dark of Sig & Bill: Medical Detectives,” then you could have deflected casual interest by saying, “Oh, just a little light reading.”
While few people know the importance of William Halsted to modern surgery even fewer people know of his lifelong addiction to both morphine and cocaine. Most people know something about Freud’s contributions to good mental health and perhaps know less about his addictions. None will have read an authoritative treatment of how drug addiction and professional achievement were in constant imbalance, sometimes aiding and often harming their work.
The suspense holds throughout the book because these two art not ragtag musicians, burnt out writers, or rogue cops, these men were great contributors to modern society, affecting everyone around the world. Incredible and true, you can’t beat that. Charles Marlin
