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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editionsThe Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizersby Andrea Tone
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Anxious Americans have increasingly pursued peace of mind through pills and prescriptions. In 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that 40 million adult Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder in any given year: more than double the number thought to have such a disorder in 2001. Anti-anxiety drugs are a billion-dollar business. Yet as recently as 1955, when the first tranquilizer—Miltown—went on the market, pharmaceutical executives worried that there wouldnt be interest in anxiety-relief. At mid-century, talk therapy remained the treatment of choice. But Miltown became a sensation—the first psychotropic blockbuster in United States history. By 1957, Americans had filled 36 million prescriptions. Patients seeking made-to-order tranquility emptied drugstores, forcing pharmacists to post signs reading “more Miltown tomorrow.” The drugs financial success and cultural impact revolutionized perceptions of anxiety and its treatment, inspiring the development of other lifestyle drugs including Valium and Prozac. In The Age of Anxiety, Andrea Tone draws on a broad array of original sources—manufacturers files, FDA reports, letters, government investigations, and interviews with inventors, physicians, patients, and activists—to provide the first comprehensive account of the rise of Americas tranquilizer culture. She transports readers from the bomb shelters of the Cold War to the scientific optimism of the Baby Boomers, to the “just say no” Puritanism of the late 1970s and 1980s. A vibrant history of Americas long and turbulent affair with tranquilizers, The Age of Anxiety casts new light on what it has meant to seek synthetic solutions to everyday angst. Book News Annotation:While prescription drugs are routinely used today for managing
depression and anxiety, this was not the case a half century ago. In
this book, Tone (Social History of Medicine, McGill University) looks
at the medicalization of mental health issues since the 1950s and at
the growth of the pharmaceutical industry that fed Americans' growing
reliance on drug-based solutions for stress and anxiety. Basing her
account on extensive interviews and other primary sources, the author
examines the question of whether increased tranquilizer use is due to
higher levels of day-to-day anxiety, or whether that growth is the
result of the redefinition of everyday problems as medical or
psychological conditions suitable for pharmaceutical intervention.
Tone's highly readable (and sometimes personal) account of the social
and medical role of tranquilizers will interest many readers.
Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:The definitive history of Americas tranquilizer culture—from the Miltown sensation in the 1950s to Valium in the 1960s and 1970s to Xanax in the twenty-first century. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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