An Oral History of Folk Medicine

This book is a compendium of interview excerpts on healing methods used by ordinary people in Northeastern United States in the first half of the twentieth century. These personal accounts were collected from 1990 - 1992 from over a hundred elders who shared their colorful stories, often with great humor and verve. These stories sat on the shelf for almost twenty years until the author brought them into the light of day.
Realities of folk medicine can differ radically from commonly held notions; this collection addresses that gap by offering a fascinating look into how it really was, with details of surprising remedies people relied on faithfully in times of illness.