In my attempt to become an interesting person again, I've decided to once again read history books. Not text books, but history books. Good, factual interpretations of historical events.
I've started reading a book called, "Blood and Thunder". It's by a great author, Hampton Sides, who wrote on of my favorite history books, "Ghost Soldiers". This book is about the settlement of the American West, and primarily documents the wars, trappers, and Pioneers following the life and times of Kit Carson.
Enough of a set-up, right? Last night I was reading a chapter about James K Polk, the 11th president of the United States and his attempts and successes to gain territory from Mexico in the 1800's. In the chapter, there were several interesting claims made by the author that the historian and former teacher in me found interesting.
Sides claims that Polk is the most effective American President that we've ever had; achieving all his goals that were set prior to taking office. I also didn't know that Polk died 3 months after he left office because of some health conditions that plagued him his entire life.
What conditions? The guy had severe urinary/kidney stones from the time he was a teenager. Here's the gory part, to directly quote from the book:
"At 17, after years of anguish...Polk was diagnosed with urinary stones. He was taken to a famous Kentucky physician, Dr. Ephraim McDowell, and there underwent what was then a state-of-the-art surgery. With nothing more than brandy for an anesthetic6ic, the future president was strapped naked to the operating table with his legs hoisted high into the air. Dr. McDowell bored through the prostate and into the bladder with a medieval-looking tool called a "gorget". The stones were successfully removed..."
How crazy is that? That's interesting, right?
I love history.
I've started reading a book called, "Blood and Thunder". It's by a great author, Hampton Sides, who wrote on of my favorite history books, "Ghost Soldiers". This book is about the settlement of the American West, and primarily documents the wars, trappers, and Pioneers following the life and times of Kit Carson.
Enough of a set-up, right? Last night I was reading a chapter about James K Polk, the 11th president of the United States and his attempts and successes to gain territory from Mexico in the 1800's. In the chapter, there were several interesting claims made by the author that the historian and former teacher in me found interesting.
Sides claims that Polk is the most effective American President that we've ever had; achieving all his goals that were set prior to taking office. I also didn't know that Polk died 3 months after he left office because of some health conditions that plagued him his entire life.
What conditions? The guy had severe urinary/kidney stones from the time he was a teenager. Here's the gory part, to directly quote from the book:
"At 17, after years of anguish...Polk was diagnosed with urinary stones. He was taken to a famous Kentucky physician, Dr. Ephraim McDowell, and there underwent what was then a state-of-the-art surgery. With nothing more than brandy for an anesthetic6ic, the future president was strapped naked to the operating table with his legs hoisted high into the air. Dr. McDowell bored through the prostate and into the bladder with a medieval-looking tool called a "gorget". The stones were successfully removed..."
How crazy is that? That's interesting, right?
I love history.
2 comments:
Annie,
You know, we could start a small history book club? Also, if your interested I've got tons of history books you could look through. Most of my things are about Latin American history and politics, and the vast majority is modern Latin America. Anyhow, even without reading some educational type stuff, your still an interesting person and never forget that!
Tiffany
Gross. You always find the weirdest things. Why don't you describe berry-berry to us while your're at it. What about bundling? I remember Mr. Jones saying that Polk was the most successful president in achieving his goals.
Haley
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