• DOI:10.1353/BHM.2003.0176
• Corpus ID: 71238828

A Grateful Heart: The History of a World War I Field Hospital (review)

@article{Joy2003AGH,
  title={A Grateful Heart: The History of a World War I Field Hospital (review)},
  author={Robert J. T. Joy},
  journal={Bulletin of the History of Medicine},
  year={2003},
  volume={77},
  pages={961 - 962}
}

• R. Joy
• Published 4 December 2003
• Art
• Bulletin of the History of Medicine

symptoms occurred after bouts of dysentery, and Wooley speculates that some of the irritable heart cases suffered from myocarditis caused by Coxsackie A and B viruses, common agents of diarrheal illnesses. Irritable heart was no one thing, but probably all these things, and more. It is a common failing of authors to mention name after name in a narrative without properly identifying them or supplying context. In contrast, Wooley offers rich vignettes on the many researchers who pepper his story. At times these minibiographies detract from the main focus on irritable heart, as when he reproduces lengthy diary excerpts of humorous episodes involving motorcycles or social events. The book is largely organized around the researchers, so that frequent excursions back and forth in time occur. A stricter chronology and tightening of the story line would have made for a stronger monograph. Even so, this study provides a valuable and fascinating introduction to a little-explored aspect of military medicine.