Understanding the history of an idea is hard. But harder still might be tracing the path back to the beginning of your own ideas, particularly those that somehow move from a question to an entire book comprising several years of your life. For this, I thank Matt Jensen for introducing me to his field of medicine and for pushing me to take a look around with a questioning historical eye. Much to my surprise, I discovered that the history of medicine brought together some of my long-standing interests in women’s history, utopian thinking, and oddball characters. Our conversations on medicine and nineteenth-century history formed the core of this book, as Matt questioned and challenged my assumptions, and offered me new insights and ideas that I never would have come to alone. Having the critical eye of an in-house doctor also proved invaluable as he disputed my claims and characterizations of regular medicine. For this, I thank him, and I apologize, since I’m sure my thankfulness frequently appeared as annoyance in the moment.
Thanks also to Christopher Hoolihan at the Edward G. Miner Library at the University of Rochester Medical Center and to the staff at Ebling Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for help in locating items new, old, and rare. Thanks as well to the librarians and archivists of the Wisconsin Historical Society and Memorial Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Thanks to my agent, Janet Rosin, for her excitement about this project when it was only half formed, and to the critical eyes of my editors, Helene Atwan and Crystal Paul, at Beacon Press.
Thanks as well to those friends who expressed (polite) interest and found themselves unexpectedly in a conversation about irregular medicine, particularly Anne Strainchamps, Mary Ellen Gabriel, Michael Edmonds, Nicole Miller, and Laura Kearney. Your comments and questions made me think and laugh, which added immeasurably to this book and the writing process.