{"product_id":"9781501341946","title":"Pill","description":"\u003cstrong\u003ePill\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Robert Bennett\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You are what you eat.” Never is this truer than when we use medications, from beta blockers and aspirin to Viagra and epidurals-and especially psychotropic pills that transform our minds as well as our bodies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Meditating on how modern medicine increasingly measures out human identity not in T. S. Eliot's proverbial coffee spoons but in 1mg-, 5mg-, or 300mg-doses, \u003ci\u003ePill\u003c\/i\u003e traces the uncanny presence of psychiatric pills through science, medicine, autobiography, television, cinema, literature, and popular music. Robert Bennett reveals modern psychopharmacology to be a brave new world in which human identities- thoughts, emotions, personalities, and selves themselves-are increasingly determined by the extraordinary powers of seemingly ordinary pills.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eObject Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bennett is great … in showing how the pill has pervaded popular culture and popular thinking. He coins the genre title of “psychopharmacological thriller,” a mouthful but apt: the film or TV show about not just drugs, but also their making, distribution, and effects. Under this last head, he unleashes a brilliant set piece on Carrie Mathison (played so well by Claire Danes in \u003ci\u003eHomeland\u003c\/i\u003e.)” - \u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Robert Bennett's \u003ci\u003ePill\u003c\/i\u003e, another volume in Bloomsbury's fine Object Lessons series … effectively looks at all areas of the history, understanding, and application of pills as maintenance tools (or presumed cures) in psychopharmacology … It's this careful, methodical journey Bennett takes through these medications and their effects as manifested through popular culture that makes\u003ci\u003e Pill \u003c\/i\u003ean effective, compelling book … \u003ci\u003ePill\u003c\/i\u003e succinctly and comprehensively charts the enigmatic relationship humanity has had with wonder drugs of all sorts, particularly here Thorazine through Adderall. [Bennett] suggests, carefully, and with touching immediacy (especially through the final personal chapter), that there's still work to be done as we understand both the blessings and the curses of these drugs.” - \u003ci\u003ePopMatters\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this wide-ranging and readable book, Robert Bennett shows the many ways that our pills are us. \u003ci\u003ePill \u003c\/i\u003eis a cautionary tale about putting our faith in easy cures, and necessary reading for anyone who wants to better understand our complex, anxious, and uncertain times.” —\u003ci\u003eRachel Adams, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, and author of Raising Henry: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, and Discovery (2013)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Adept in its understanding of the relationship between pharmacology and culture, this book incisively demonstrates how psychotropic drugs engineer the modern self. \u003ci\u003ePill\u003c\/i\u003e doesn't invite us to ask our doctors about Zoloft but rather to ask ourselves how Zoloft defines us as individuals.” —\u003ci\u003eLorenzo Servitje, Assistant Professor of Literature and Medicine, Lehigh University, USA, and co-editor of The Walking Med: Zombies and the Medical Image (2016)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781501341946\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40690211684558,"sku":"9781501341946","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_902ec5c2-f8c7-4fe2-9e7e-da743ae050a5.jpg?v=1640405697","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781501341946","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}