Amazing Mentholatum and the Commerce of Curing the Common Cold, 1889-1955 - Softcover

Alex Taylor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0978617304 ISBN 13: 9780978617301

Publisher: Angeles Crest Publications, Inc., 2006

Synopsis

This unique book is a fascinating look at the first half century of the Mentholatum Company. Lavishly illlustrated, it brings alive the development of the patent medicine and pharmaceutical industry from the quackery of the early years to the post-WWII scientific era. Also included is a bonus CD catalog which tracks the evolution of modern advertising as practiced by the Mentholatum Company from 1889-1955.

About this title

About the Author:

Alex Taylor is the great-grandson of the founder of the Mentholatum Company, A.A. Hyde. Knowing that the company did not have an archive, Alex pieced together the history from documents in the family collection and from more than 1,000 items he collected on Ebay over a five year period. His background as an artist and collaboration with Susan Hartman, a professional book designer, has resulted in a beautifully illlustrated masterpiece.

Review:

"By focusing on the intersection between the pharmaceutical industry and popular culture, Alex Taylor succeeds in telling one of the great tales of American civilization - the heroic effort to conquer the common cold. Both scholarly and enteraining, crammed full with colorful and exotic detail, Amazing Mentholatum is an amazing achievement." --Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles based author, attorney, and book review columnist

"I loved this book. Played out in the prairie factories of Wichita and the mint fields of Japan - and luxuriously illustrated - this is a tale of an early-twentieth-century battle royal between patent medicines, of Horatio Alger-style entrepreneurship, hucksterism and good works, vividly portrayed against a backdrop of the formative years of today's multi-billion-dollar industry devoted to the common cold as it coevolved with government regulation to curb its colorful and sometimes lethal excesses." --George H. Caughey, M.D. Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Professor of Medicine, UCSF; Investigator, Cardiovascular Research Institute

"The graphic design is outstanding, but so is the research and writing. It's a fine contribution to local history and beyond." --Craig Miner, Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History, Wichita State University

About this edition

• Publisher: Angeles Crest Publications, Inc.
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0978617304
• ISBN 13: 9780978617301
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242