Overview

"Empty graves. Coffins splintered. Bodies . . . missing. In the late nineteenth century, Fort Wayne, Indiana is rocked by an ongoing series of shocking crimes: local cemeteries are being stalked, their fresh bodies stolen. Who would do such a thing? All eyes are on the local medical college and Dr. A.E. Van Buskirk, its young demonstrator of anatomy, who must supply the medical school with subjects for dissection. With an attention to both medical history and local lore, Edmund Michael Van Buskirk traces the incredible true story of a scandal that was passed down through his family for generations. He delves deep into the infamous practice of medical body snatching and how it became a grim necessity for anatomy study in early American medical schools. With the patience of a doctor dissecting an interesting subject, Van Buskirk untangles and pulls apart complicated narratives, then weaves them into a compelling story of family, scandal, and an appalling history that lurks on the ""dark fringes of medicine."""

Full Product Details

9781887043526

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

E. Michael Van Buskirk, born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1941, received bachelor and master degrees from Harvard University and a Doctor of Medicine from Boston University in 1968. Dr. Van Buskirk retired in 2004 from a distinguished academic career in ophthalmology with some 200 publications including four books about glaucoma. He founded and edited the Journal of Glaucoma. Among Dr. Van Buskirk's numerous awards and honorary lectureships over five continents were the Fankhouser Medal from the University of Basel and that of Distinguished Alumnus from the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School. His first non-medical book was a genealogically oriented tale of Van Buskirks in the settlement of North America. Daughter, Doctor, Resurrectionist, the author's second book written for a general readership, also finds its roots in family lore.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available