Celebrities yapping about what ails them wasn't always common, however, and Lerner believes that its prevalence now indicates cultural changes worth noting... Insightful analysis. Booklist 2006 A readable and thoroughly researched book. (Rated four stars: Excellent) British Medical Journal 2006 Lerner has created a powerful prism through his thoughtful exploration of celebrity illness, highlighting societal and cultural forces that widely affect public and private health care decisions... Lerner's skills are superbly demonstrated in detailing complicated stories... fascinating analysis. JAMA 2007 Lerner offers a superb volume rich with thorough and entertaining recollections and other information not previously in the public domain... A clear, concise, and captivating treatise that holds the interest of lay readers and yet illuminates for medical professionals issues that are important to the individual patient as well as the scientific community. Journal of Clinical Investigation 2007 Lerner has done a beautiful job of tracing the degree to which celebrity patients have reflected and shaped the modern American understanding of doctors, patients, and illness. This book is a pleasure to read because of its compelling storytelling and analysis. New England Journal of Medicine 2007 Physician and associate professor Lerner is blessed with the ability to research widely and write lucidly... Well documented and indexed, this highly readable book deserves a broad audience. Choice 2007 Interesting book, and the writing is sprightly.
Roxanna Stein RALPH: Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy, and the Humanities 2007 Engaging and intriguing... Can be enjoyed by a broad public interested in the modern intertwining of the concerns of celebrity and health.
Steven Epstein Isis 2008 When Illness Goes Public says much about the development of ideas of illness in American culture.
Jasmine Gartner Social History of Medicine 2007 Compelling... We can learn quite a bit about our society, culture, and values from the way celebrities' illnesses are publicly portrayed. As Lerner perceptively demonstrates, descriptions of illness and death ultimately have as much to do with how people want to imagine these experiences as with actual events... Lerner is at his best when he uses his considerable narrative skills to place these stories into their broader historical, cultural and ethical contexts.
Michael J. Green American Journal of Bioethics 2007 In Lerner's capable hands, these dozen stories in their retelling are both colorfully dramatic narratives, ripped from the headlines (as the saying now goes) and also probing samples of historically specific contingencies and shifting attitudes.
Chris Feudtner Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2008 These 12 stories... delight and instruct readers about our own health and eventual mortality, and these are important things to know.
John C. Bailar, III Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2008 Well-written, professionally documented.
Robert S. Robins Journal of American History 2008 A major contribution to our understanding of health and illness. Abstracts of Public Administration, Development and Environment 2009 When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine includes a great many references and keeps the reader engaged and entertained. This easily readable book will satisfy any reader's desire to learn more about famous people who have made a difference in how medicine and disease is handled in the U.S... A great read.
Fahmida Hussain Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 2011