DOC Dr. Charles David Spivak: A Jewish Immigrant and the American Tuberculosis Movement (Timberline Books) by Jeanne Abrams in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A history lesson not always taught in schoolsBy LizAn ancestral history about the Jewish movement to fight tuberculosis during the 1920s which involved sending infected Jews to Denver Colorado-of all places-for the clean air-interesting as well as historical. It will move you and leave you thinking about our past.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. In the front line against "the white plague"By Lois GilmanDr. Charles Spivak is a medical pioneer whose place in the history of American medicine has; until now; been undocumented. This carefully researched and clearly written biography records the life of the longtime director of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society outside Denver; the largest charitable TB Sanitarium in the west. A dedicated physician and visionary in the field of public health; Spivak was at the forefront of the battle against "the white plague" in the decades before the tuberculosis was "conquered" (if only temporarily; as it now appears) by the first generation of antibiotics. Spivak's life is set in the context of the history of the sanitarium he directed (large enough to count as a town: Spivak; Colorado); and more generally as part of the larger chronicle; newly relevant today; of the country's attempt to eradicate a pandemic infectious disease. Dr. Abrams; director of the JCRS archive; is Spivak's ideal biographer. As someone working in the same field--and no less important--as the son of a TB patient who recovered under Dr. Spivak's care; I found this book both invaluable professionally; and; personally; deeply moving. Ernest B. Gilman; Professor of English; New York University