Charlatan

November 19, 2007
John Brinkley, who grew up poor in rural North Carolina but attended Rush Medical College in Chicago, got his start touring as a medicine man hawking “miracle” tonics and became famous for transplanting goat testicles into impotent men. Brinkley built his own radio station in 1923, hustling his pseudoscience over the airwaves and giving an outlet to astrologers and country music. His nemesis was Dr. Morris Fishbein, the buoyant, compulsively curious editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association
whose luminary friends included Sinclair Lewis, Clarence Darrow and H.L. Mencken. Fishbein took aim at Brinkley in JAMA
, lay publications and pamphlets distributed by the thousands. Even after the Kansas State Medical Board yanked his medical license in 1930, Brinkley ran twice for governor of Kansas and almost won. Finally, Brinkley sued Fishbein for libel and lost in a spectacular showdown. Brock (Indiana Gothic
) did tremendous research on this rollicking story, but the result is at times unfocused, overwritten and digressive, borrowing just a little too much from the overblown rhetoric of its subject. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW
.

December 15, 2007
In this lively and absorbing biography, Brock deftly captures the consummate snake-oil salesman and gifted entrepreneur John R. Brinkley (18851942), in his day America's most famous (albeit uncredentialed) doctor. Not content peddling useless potions to the gullible for decent profits, Brinkley pursued fame and riches and built a wildly successful business transplanting goat testicles into thousands of men and even some women, from the poor to movie stars and politicians, all conned into parting with $750 and risking their lives for a miracle cure for impotence, infertility, or other ailments. Brock ("Indiana Gothic") frames Brinkley's show-stopping exploits with a well-drawn portrait of Morris Fishbein, the editor of "JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association", who worked for decades to discredit Brinkley, whom he considered the most dangerous quack in the land. Brinkley, the subject of earlier biographies, including R. Alton Lee's recent "The Bizarre Careers of John R. Brinkley", masterminded innovative marketing techniques still in use today, ran a close race for governor of Kansas, and built the first "border blaster" high-wattage radio station in Mexico, his influence thus extending even into music and broadcasting in America. Not bad for a serial killer. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 10/15/07.]Donna L. Davey, New York Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2007
Quackerys P. T. Barnum strides through Brocks raucous yarn of John Brinkley, MD. Recounting the antics of Brinkleys medicine show, which flourished in 1920s America, Brock underpins the whirlwind of Brinkleys myriad enterprises with the human credulity that made them all possible. Brinkleys racket was brilliant: he promisedto restore male virility by suturing goat gonads intotheskin.He also pioneered radio advertising, which successfullylured hundreds of marks tohis Kansas hospital. Alas, Kansas revoked his medical license in 1930. Unbowed, Brinkley ran for governor, was cheated of victory, and relocated his cavalcade on the Rio Grande. Stalked all along by a nemesis, Morris Fishbein of the American Medical Association, Brinkley, whose frauds proved highly lucrative, finally crashedwhen he lost a 1939 libel suit against Fishbein. Humorous about Brinkleys ministrations, Brock marvels at his canny exploitations while condemning a menace who reduced many patients to room temperature. Wryly sardonic, Brocks account will prompt hisreaders to muse on Brinkleys descendantsin the age of Viagra.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)