Why read American Breakdown?

Book cover of American Breakdown: Our Ailing Nation, My Body's Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life

Book description

A Silent Spring for the human body, this wide-ranging, genre-crossing literary mystery interweaves the author’s quest to understand the source of her own condition with her telling of the story of the chronically ill 19th-century diarist Alice James—ultimately uncovering the many hidden health hazards of life in America.

When Jennifer…

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Health
Women

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Why read it?

1 author picked American Breakdown as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Barbara C. Ewell

Author

I don’t usually read non-fiction: I prefer characters, plots, and being drawn into another universe. But glowing reviews and the fact that a literary figure, Alice James, was involved: I decided to make an exception.

In short, dear reader, I was blown away. Lunden is not only a fine writer, she has a gripping story to tell, not only of her own struggles with a profit-driven medical system, but also how being a woman makes everything even harder.

Lunden puts the “breakdown” of a caring profession (like medicine) into sharp focus. But thankfully (since I really prefer happy endings), she…

From Barbara's 3 favorite reads in 2023.