Solving history's great medical mysteries Philip A. Mackowiak MD, FACP, MBA, Director of Medical Care at the VA Maryland Health Care System and Professor and Vice Chairman of the department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA £19.95,  978-1-930513-89-1,  354pp,  Hardback,  May 2007

Shane McKee - The Ulster Medical Journal 2008 - Issue 77 (1)
'This volume lends itself well to dipping, as each chapter is pretty much self-contained. It is a pleasant read, and stimulates and informs in equal measure.'

This new book combines mystery stories with popular history and medical case studies to offer professional and non-professional readers a fascinating and entertaining experience!

Post Mortem examines medical mysteries in the lives and deaths of 12 famous men and women, including Alexander the Great, King Herod, Joan of Arc, Mozart, Beethoven, and Edgar Allan Poe. It also investigates the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, the Greek statesman and general Pericles, the Roman Emperor Claudius, Christopher Columbus, Florence Nightingale and Booker T. Washington.

This title traces 3,500 years of the medical history from the perspective of what contemporary physicians thought about the diseases of their renowned patients and how they might have treated them. It describes the characteristics of the illnesses in question, and brings to life the medical history, social history, family history, and physical examination of each victim. Post Mortem sifts through the medical evidence, testing a wide range of diagnostic theories against the known facts and today's best scientific research, to arrive at the diagnosis most consistent with the illness described in the historic record.

A truly riveting read for all those who love a good mystery.

* Was Alexander the Great a victim of West Nile virus?
* What caused the gruesome final illness of Kind Herod?
* Was Joan of Arc mentally ill during her heresy trial?
* Could syphilis have made Beethoven deaf?
* Did Edgar Allan Poe drink himself to death?

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