Why read The Poison Squad?

Book cover of The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Book description

A New York Times Notable Book

The inspiration for PBS's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film The Poison Squad.

From Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story of how food was made safe in the United States and the heroes, led by the inimitable Dr. Harvey…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Poison Squad as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Stacy Kingsley

Author

I loved this book because I love the history of bad things. This book follows Dr. Harvey Wiley as he tries to figure out how to make food safe in the United States.

Did you know that the food process in the United States was behind almost every other country? Europe banned foods and food dyes that we still eat here.

I thought this book was informative, and I enjoyed how it led me to think about what I eat and what a zombie might eat if it decided it wanted to be healthy. I mean, are there zombies that…

From Stacy's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Andrew Amelinckx

Author

In The Poison Squad, Deborah Blum explores the era in American history before food and drugs were regulated, a wild time indeed when many patent medicines contained not only morphine or cocaine but a plethora of poisonous substances that killed many users.

Even worse, unregulated candy containing adulterated ingredients led to many children’s deaths. Blum not only does a wonderful job breaking down the science and politics involved in this fascinating story but gives a vivid picture of the late 19th century and early 20th in the U.S.

Today, when many are calling for deregulation, The Poison Squad is even…

From Andrew's list on narrative non-fiction that interweave crime and history.