American Breakdown

<p><strong>A <em>Silent Spring</em> 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.</strong></p><p>When Jennifer Lunden became chronically ill after moving from Canada to Maine her case was a medical mystery. Just 21 unable to hold a book or stand for a shower she lost her job and consigned herself to her bed. The doctor she went to for help told her she was just depressed.</p><p>After suffering from this enigmatic illness for five years she discovered an unlikely source of hope and healing: a biography of Alice James the bright witty and often bedridden sibling of brothers Henry James the novelist and William James the father of psychology. Alice suffered from a life-shattering illness known as neurasthenia now often dismissed as a fashionable illness.</p><p>In this meticulously researched and illuminating debut Lunden interweaves her own experience with Alice's exploring the history of medicine and the effects of the industrial revolution and late-stage capitalism to tell a riveting story of how we are a nation struggling--and failing--to be healthy.</p><p>Although science--and the politics behind its funding--has in many ways let Lunden and millions like her down in the end science offers a revelation that will change how readers think about the ecosystems of their bodies their communities the country and the planet.</p>