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398 The Canadian Historical Review ably enough, because of the care taken to name various authors in the text, the reader with some patience can identify most other sources by triangulating on the two bibliographies. Unfortunately, there are moments when this system breaks down. For example, inspired by their words, I would have liked to know the sources for the following: 'dysmenorrhea' in a 'woman who was pregnant' ([sic] 18); 'a third ofall men at one time or another had gonorrhea' (87); the woman with tuberculosis allowed home to die where she 'infected her son' (also 87); and the recollections ofthe anonymous 'summer clerk on psychiatry in Brandon' (201). But my complaint is minor. The task was enormous and the authors are to be congratulated on keeping the book succinct and readable. They themselves point out that their tale is incomplete: 'partly because complete histories bore completely, whereas incomplete and selective histories either inspire the readers to find out more or stimulate them to indignant correction. Either reaction increases knowledge and is better than the gentle snore ofthe sleeping reader.' The stylish, opinionated prose deserves special mention for its storytelling elegance and wit. Astutely chosen quotations provide colourful vignettes. The authors, 'whose lives have been saved several times by modem medicine,' have an unapologetic bias that today's medicine is better than that ofthe past: 'those who challenge this view should throw away the penicillin ... and read another book.' They readily resort to words like 'progress' and 'improvement,' and they credit most individual doctors with honest, hard labour intended to help and do no harm. However, a spunky, leftist stance pervades their writing, especially in discussions ofabortion, doctor's strikes, and health care insurance. They are also suspicious of doctor collectivities, referring to the medical establishment as 'a professional oligarchy responsible to itself.' The blend is impressive and pleasing. Carr and Beamish have given us a very good book that will be ofuse not only to Manitoba historians but to all Canadians interested in this topic. It can also serve as a fine model for future regional histories of medicine anywhere. JACALYN DUFFIN Queen's University The Weariness, the Fever, and the Fret: The Campaign against Tuberculosis in Canada, 1900-1950. KATHERINE MCCUAIG. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1999· Pp. xx, 384, illus. $55.00 cloth, $24.95 paper Although American historians have long been interested in tuberculosis, turning increasingly to the subject in recent years, Canadian historians Book Reviews 399 have paid less attention to the disease. Katherine McCuaig's book is a welcome addition to the history oftuberculosis, as well as the history of health and healthcare, in Canada. Tracing the history of anti-tuberculosis work through the eyes of doctors and lay volunteers, Mccuaig aims to explain both the medical management ofTB and the 'broader social and political context' ofpublic health measures. The book moves quickly from social reform impulses ofthe late-nineteenth century through the 'watershed' years ofthe First World War to the interwar period, where it lingers for several crucial chapters before closing with the retreat ofTB in the 1950s. According to McCuaig, the campaign against tuberculosis evolved in these decades from 'the incoherent, isolated and individualistic efforts ofurban social reformers armed with "enthusiasm, determination, and persistence" but woefully little else - into a specialized, organized, and businesslike multimillion dollar operation that profoundly altered the pattern of health care in Canada.' She argues that, while other reform movements faltered and faded away in the secularizing postwar world, the fight to eradicate tuberculosis survived and prospered by embracing the new ethos ofefficiency and expertise - by becoming more 'scientific.' McCuaig began her study oftuberculosis as an MA student at McGill University, but her interest in the subject persisted through years of medical training and surgical practice. Perhaps as a result, the scope of her research is breathtaking. While some historians try to write national histories, McCuaig succeeds, moving gracefully from innovative public health measures developed in Saskatchewan, to the testing ofprevention and treatment strategies in rural Quebec, to the crucial role played by volunteers in the organization of anti-TB programs in the Maritimes. Moreover, she provides a lucid and sustained discussion ofthe changing role...

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