A successor to his popular book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, this new collection of essays by Jan Bondeson illustrates various anomalies of human development, the lives of the remarkable individuals concerned, and social reactions to their extraordinary bodies.
Bondeson examines historical cases of dwarfism, extreme corpulence, giantism, conjoined twins, dicephaly, and extreme hairiness; his broader theme, however, is the infinite range of human experience. The dicephalous Tocci brothers and Lazarus Colloredo (from whose belly grew his malformed conjoined twin), the Swedish giant, and the king of Poland's dwarf--Bondeson considers these individuals not as "freaks" but as human beings born with sometimes appalling congenital deformities. He makes full use of original French, German, Dutch, Polish, and Scandinavian sources and explores elements of ethnology, literature, and cultural history in his diagnoses.
Heavily illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, oil paintings, and photographs, The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels combines a scientist's scrutiny with a humanist's wonder at the endurance of the human spirit.
Contents
The Two Inseparable Brothers, and a Preface
The Hairy Maid at the Harpsichord
The Stone-child
The Woman Who Laid an Egg
The Strangest Miracle in the World
Some Words about Hog-faced Gentlewomen
Horned Humans
The Biddenden Maids
The Tocci Brothers, and Other Dicephali
The King of Poland’s Court Dwarf
Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish Giant
Daniel Lambert, the Human Colossus
Cat-eating Englishmen and French Frog-swallowers
Reviews
"Bondeson takes another look at those whom some call freaks and medical monstrosities. He examines these strange persons sympathetically, with concern for how they lived, drawing on original, often contemporary descriptions to understand them. . . . Good reading for anyone with a strong stomach, sufficient curiosity, and appreciation for the odd touch of wry humor." --Booklist. June 1, 2000.
"As Bondeson looks at the cases of the so-called "hog-faced women," "dog-faced boys," and "people with horns" throughout history, he shows an acute sensitivity to the nuances of historical interpretation and for the humanity of those whose lives and conditions he chronicles." --Publishers Weekly. May 29, 2000.
"A sober, informative disquisition on the sundry forms that humanity can assume and endure." --Kirkus Reviews. June 15, 2000
"Physician Bondeson . . . looks at cultural, social, and literary aspects as well as morphology [of grotesque deforming]...a brilliant effort. Highly recommended."--Choice, January 2001
"A physician plumbs medical history to expose various anomalies of human development, the lives of the remarkable individuals afflicted, and the social reactions to their extraordinary bodies."--Forecast, Bridgewater, NJ, July 2000.
"Clearly and engagingly written, and with sympathy and tact for those persons maliciously exploited and taunted for their anomalies, Bondeson's Two-Headed Boy is a well-researched, humane, and entertaining work that deserves a larger audience than most university press books generally garner. A highly recommended read."--Tom Bowden, Techdirections.
"Bondeson. . . sensitively document[s] the lives of some of nature's strangest creations, among them hog-faced women, dog-faced boys, and horned humans."--Discover. October 2000.
"Bondeson is at his best in explaining how careless language, quirks of chronology, and gross scientific misconceptions led to widespread belief in impossible circumstances. . . . For the hungry, the bibliography is a feast."--ForeWord Magazine. September, 2000.
"In a series of sensitive, readable and often clever essays, we meet the Hairy Maid and the Hog-faced Gentlewoman and learn details of the lives of a half-dozen others whose medical conditions and everyday appearance defy our usual classifications. They are too personable still to be called monsters, too human to label as mere 'freaks.'"--Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 77, No. 1
"As the title suggests, this is a book about freaks of nature, yet it should not be considered an exposé but rather a conscientious and sympathetic study. Bondeson has already scored coups with his previous medical writing in the field . . . and fans of these works will not be disappointed."--Lily Leath, The Bloomsbury Review, May/June 2001
"The author is to be complimented for having found really obscure primary sources and having assembled a medley of interesting anecdotes and relevant illustrations...[T]he educated reader can have an enjoyable time."--Thomas G. Benedek, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Bull. Hist. Medicine, 75, #2, 6/01
"The strength of Bondeson's book is in the details. Occasionally the author goes into more detail than the average reader will want, but the subject is so absorbing and his writing so compelling that the book is never dull."--John Parascandola, Ph.D., Public Health Service Historian. Journal of the History of Medicine, Vol. 56, April 2001
"Both fascinating and disturbing, this sad, well-researched book catalogs another selection of unusual humans who were often treated with terrible humanity...[P]erfect for all students of the human (and sometimes inhumane) condition."--www.mummytombs.com, May 2001
"Those who admired his first book . . . will not be disappointed with these new collections of essays on medical and zoological curiosities."--Bob Rickard, Fortean Times, November 2000
"The book will prove interesting and refreshing to members of the medical profession and curious laymen . . . The writer's lively style of writing is an admirable feat which assists in achieving the study's coherence...[T]he book is well-written and very entertaining."--Jerome Teelucksingh, University of the West Indies. Social History of Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 1
"Bondeson has a strong record in presenting tales of amazing animals and assorted oddities in the natural world. This book is medical history at its most arresting." --Janet Browne, Archives of Natural History, Vol. 29, No. 2
"The strengths of this book are Bondeson's extensive use of a variety of original European and North American sources, an unwillingness to accept folklore uncritically (with perhaps one exception), a scientist's eagerness to seek alternative explanations, an ability to explain the science of each physical anomaly in terms that do not require the reader to have a degree in genetics, a lucid writing style with a pervasive underlying good humor and a sensitivity to the human aspects of living with major congenital anomalies. . . . The volume itself is well produced with many illustrations."--James Andrew McSherry, University of Western Ontario, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 19:2, 2002
"Collections of stories of human oddities or medical wonders have a long history, and Jan Bondeson has added a superior example to the genre. . . . The book's interest to both scholars and casual readers is considerably enhanced by its numerous black-and-white illustrations, many reproduced from Bondeson's own collection." —William E. Burns, ISIS 95:1 (2004)
“The number of two-headed boys and hairy-faced girls in Jan Bondeson’s new volume of miracles and marvels of medicine is astounding! But their stories illustrate how the myth-making of medicine functioned in a past in which the main means of communication was the broadside. Today with the Internet and a rich web of urban legends, Bondeson’s volume serves as a corrective. It is not how far we have come in dealing with the anomalous but how little we have changed in our telling of wondrous stories. Great stories; greater lessons!”--Sander L. Gilman, Henry R. Luce Distinguished Service Professor of the Liberal Arts in Human Biology, The University of Chicago
