Author: Barbara Hodgson
Publisher: Firefly Books
Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1552975401
ISBN 13: 978-1552975404
The follow-up to the widely praised Opium, In The Arms of Morpheus is the shocking story of how a simple but bewitching substance, touted as a miracle drug, enslaved unwitting generations of 19th century writers, artists and ordinary citizens. Extracted from opium, the sap of the poppy, this popular drug was welcomed into the homes of rich and poor alike, in the guise of medicinal uses in the form of laudanum and opium elixirs, and as pure, undisguised morphine.
Laudanum contained opium, saffron, cinnamon and alcohol. In the spirit of 19th century progress, other opium concoctions were created and a whole industry in quackery erupted. In both Britain and North America, opium was mixed with everything imaginable: mercury, hashish, cayenne pepper, ether, chloroform, belladonna and whisky, sherry, wine and brandy.
In the Arms of Morpheus examines how the drinking of laudanum for medical reasons developed and how it became an everyday safeguard against pain, poverty, and boredom. Opium eating was catapulted into fame by the confessions of Thomas De Quincy and insinuated itself into the lives and works of writers such as Louisa May Alcott, Lord Byron, Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, the Brontës, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and many others.
Thoroughly researched and copiously illustrated with photographs, engravings, advertisements, movie stills, pulp magazine and dime novel covers and paraphernalia, In the Arms of Morpheus continues the history of opium's emergence as an omnipresent and sometimes devastating influence.
From Library Journal
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas de Quincy were notorious for their opium dreams, but who would have thought that (as related here) Louisa May Alcott, George Washington, and Florence Nightingale were also habitues of the drug? Although opium's use spans millennia, doctors in the late 18th and 19th centuries found it invaluable in combating symptoms of the then-common plagues of cholera, tuberculosis, and dysentery. Laudanum, a potent mixture of opium, wine, and spices, became increasingly widespread, particularly prized for its mind-altering qualities by artists, writers, and neurasthenic Victorian housewives. Meanwhile, various patent medicines containing opiates, including "Soothing Syrup" for teething babies, sold at every country store. The development of morphine in the 1820s and heroin in 1898 made opium more concentrated and more addictive. British novelist and book designer Hodgson follows up her recent Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon (Chronicle, 1999) with this history of opium's derivatives. In a creative mixture of narrative, literary excerpts, photographs, and illustrations, she portrays both the allure and the danger of addiction. Her fascinating cultural history is enthusiastically recommended for public libraries. Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida Lib., St. Petersburg
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
[Hodgson's] deft writing style will please the most reluctant reader, and many will enjoy the liberal use of quotations, photos, art, advertisements and reproductions of book jackets and movie posters. (T.D. DeLapp Choice 2002-06-01)
Solid history wrapped in an illustrative continuum of vintage ads and other lush colorplates and rife with succulent historical tidbits ... a history of morphine's impact on popular culture that may stir readers to think more deeply about current efforts to suppress all psychoactive substances. (Mike Tribby Booklist 2001-11-15)
In a creative mixture of narrative, literary excerpts, photographs, and illustrations, [the author] portrays both the allure and the danger of addiction. Her fascinating cultural history is enthusiastically recommended for public libraries. (Kathy Arsenault Library Journal 2002-01-01)
Information is discerned with a marvelous mixture of sidebars, quotes, facts, and photographs; woodcuts; and advertisements ... Packed with data and easy and interesting to read. (Cheryl Karp Ward VOYA [Voice of Youth Advocates] 2002-02-01)
With a contagiously gleeful curiosity, Hodgson presents an illustrated compendium of all things morphine. (Peggy Earle Virginian Pilot 2001-12-23)
Entertaining and well-illustrated. (Etienne S. Benson Science Books and Films 2003-02-15)
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