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Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.775
EAN: 9780375503153
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0375503153
Label: Random House
Manufacturer: Random House
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: April 19, 2005
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: April 19, 2005
Studio: Random House
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Editorial Review:
A landmark chronicle of Civil War medicine, Bleeding Blue and Gray is a major contribution to our understanding of America’s bloodiest conflict. Indeed, eminent surgeon and medical historian Ira M. Rutkow argues that it is impossible to grasp the harsh realities of the Civil War without an awareness of the state of American medicine at the time.At the outset of the war, the use of ether and chloroform remained crude, and they were often unavailable in the hellish conditions at the front lines. As a result, many surgical procedures were performed without anesthesia in the compromised setting of a battleground or a field hospital. This meant that “clinical concerns were often of less consequence,” writes Rutkow, “than the swiftness of the surgeon’s knife.”Also, in the 1860s, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms was still unknown–many still blamed “malodorous gasses” for deadly outbreaks of respiratory influenza. As the great Civil War surgeon William Williams Keen wrote, “we used undisinfected instruments from undisinfected plush-lined cases, and still worse, used marine sponges which had been used in prior pus cases and had been only washed in tap water.”Besides the substandard quality of wartime medical supplies and techniques, the combatants’ utter lack of preparation greatly impaired treatment. In 1861, the Union’s medical corps, mostly ill-qualified and poorly trained, even lacked an ambulance system. Fortunately, some of these difficulties were ameliorated by the work of numerous relief agencies, especially the United States Sanitary Commission, led by Frederick Law Olmsted, and tens of thousands of volunteers, among them Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman.From the soldiers who endured the ravages of combat to the government officials who directed the war machine, from the good Samaritans who organized aid commissions to the nurses who cared for the wounded, Bleeding Blue and Gray presents a story of suffering, politics, character, and, ultimately, healing.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Practice and Progress of Medicine
Medicine was another major area where the combatants of the Civil War were ill-equipped to begin. Prior to the Civil War hospitals were by and large places where one did not want to go. Those who were pushed out of society were sent to hospitals whereas those to be saved were cared for at home. Critics of hospitals complained of grimy walls and foul air due bodily secretions. Prior to the Civil War hospitals were only sanctuaries for the destitute and insane.
Basically doctors were ... Read More
Rating:  - Civil War medical issues
This book is an excellent look at a broad spectrum of Civil War medical issues. The author touches on the medical training of doctors in the 19th century, and even discusses the role of nurses in patient care at the time. Much of the information in the book was new to me, rather than a rehashing of common information, As a physician, I marvelled at how little the medical personnel of the time had to work with. The administrative structure of the Medical Corps is covered in almost too much detail, ... Read More
Rating: - Civil War Surgery
If you only buy one book on civil war medicine, this
is the book to purchase.
Excellent.
Rating: - Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine
Excellent! What a research project that Dr. Rutkow undertook with this book and then gave it back to us in an interesting, informative read! Thought I might get bored with all the history details and names, but I did not. Funny how much of the major movements in healthcare came with our experiences with war. Thought Vietnam was primarily the determinate change, but the Doc shows us how medicine evolved during the Civil War, but stayed stagnant at the same time. Read the book!
Rating: - Fascinating, gory and sad
It's obvious the author, an M.D. himself, has gone to great pains to research this subject exhaustively. I was riveted by the general Civil War history relating to and along with the medical history of the period. The personalities and politics were as interesting as the accounts of battles and medical cases. It's amazing that only a century and a half ago, medical professionals didn't know to wash their hands between patients or before performing surgery. I couldn't put this book down and finished it ... Read More
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