ASilentSpringforthehumanbody,thiswide-ranging,genre-crossingliterarymysteryinterweavestheauthor’squesttounderstandthesourceofherownconditionwithhertellingofthestoryofthechronicallyill19th-centurydiaristAliceJames--ultimatelyuncoveringthemanyhiddenhealthhazardsoflifeinAmerica.WhenJenniferLundenbecamechronicallyillaftermovingfromCanadatoMaine,hercasewasamedicalmystery.Just21,unabletoholdabookorstandforashower,shelostherjobandconsignedherselftoherbed.Thedoctorshewenttoforhelptoldhershewas“justdepressed.“Aftersufferingfromthisenigmaticillnessforfiveyears,shediscoveredanunlikelysourceofhopeandhealing:abiographyofAliceJames,thebright,witty,andoftenbedriddensiblingofbrothersHenryJames,thenovelist,andWilliamJames,thefatherofpsychology.Alicesufferedfromalife-shatteringillnessknownasneurasthenia,nowoftendismissedasa“fashionableillness.“Inthismeticulouslyresearchedandilluminatingdebut,LundeninterweavesherownexperiencewithAlice’s,exploringthehistoryofmedicineandtheeffectsoftheindustrialrevolutionandlate-stagecapitalismtotellarivetingstoryofhowweareanationstruggling--andfailing--tobehealthy.Althoughscience--andthepoliticsbehinditsfunding--hasinmanywaysletLundenandmillionslikeherdown,intheendscienceoffersarevelationthatwillchangehowreadersthinkabouttheecosystemsoftheirbodies,theircommunities,thecountry,andtheplanet.
