Remaking the American Patient

Awarded the Bancroft Prize in 2017, Nancy Tomes's Remaking the American Patient breaks new ground in the history of advertising and medicine by exploring the process through which advertising executives and physicians turned patients into consumers. She argues that the development of medical consumerism in the United States began in the Progressive Era when medical professionalism and government regulation made safer, wiser choices more accessible; continued between 1940 and 1970 with “Free Enterprise Medicine;” and then underwent radical changes from the 1970s through the 1990s. Meticulously researched and documented, Tomes's book sets a high standard for argument, narrative, and organization. Its lively tone makes this book a good read that addresses a broad audience—from scholars in the humanities to physicians, nurses, and administrators in medicine, from undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in multiple disciplines, to the general reading public. Reviewed widely in the mainstream press, readers have found Tomes's book “amazing,” “required reading,” “sweeping,” “instructive,” and “even-handed.” The Bancroft committee commented that Tomes's questioning of “the popular—and largely unexamined—idea that in order to receive quality health care, people must learn to shop for it” goes a long way toward explaining “why, despite striking changes that seem to empower patients, so many Americans remain unhappy and confused about their status as patients today” (“Winners of Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy Announced,” March 17, 2017, https://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2017/2017-03-15_2017_Bancroft_Prize.html

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