Images of Civil War Medicine: A Photographic History
Photography and medicine make an interesting combination of topics for a Civil War book. Gordon Dammann and Alfred Bollett’s newest work, Images of Civil War Medicine, provides a useful study in how the two topics meld together to tell the important developments made in each medical field during the Civil War. Overall, the book is good. It has many previously unpublished photographs. Among them is an interesting and extensive collection of cartes de visite, the familiar “calling cards” with a photograph on one side and an advertisement on the other. Dr. Dammann has acquired quite a collection of these images. Each chapter is clearly defined and covers a specific aspect of Civil War medicine. The chapters are easy to read. They provide a broad spectrum of coverage including Surgeons and Nurses, Field Hospitals, the Ambulance Corps, Embalming and various relief organizations like the Sanitary and Christian Commissions. Images of Civil War Medicine: A Photographic History is an excellent primer on how photography was used in Civil War medicine. It also describes how photographic techniques used in the mid-19th century became the basis of medical imaging techniques used today. Although a good book, its primary goal of being “the first book to make extensive use of images to tell what Civil War medicine was all about” is not met. In 1987, The Blue and Grey Press published a five-volume set entitled The Photographic History of the Civil War. Volume IV had more than 130 pages of comprehensive coverage and detailed illustrations on a wide variety of Civil War medicine topics. It is also interesting that the majority of Dammann and Bollet’s sources are secondary sources. Therefore, the authors’ assertion that this is the first comprehensive Civil War medicine book to use photographs and images seems misleading since they cite other books that contain many photographs and illustrations. A wide variety of distribution outlets has made this book very affordable. It can be purchased for as low as $19 in some locations. Provided the reader understands that the book provides a good general overview and discussion, but is not the first or only comprehensive coverage of this topic, the reviewer gives this selection high marks. Richard J. Blumberg Richard J. Blumberg has a master’s degree with honors in Civil War studies. He is past president of the Houston Civil War Round Table and is a speaker for that group and the Society of Women in the Civil War. He also reviews books for the Blue and Gray Education Society.
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Illustrated, preface, endnotes, acknowledgements, index, 204 pp., 2008. Demos Medical Publishing, 11 West 42nd St. 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036, $34.95 plus shipping, orderdept@demosmedpub.com.