Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling: If It Sounds Like a Quack...

This event has passed, but thanks to our public library you can view it on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLcaOXHCd4k

Our First Tuesdays at IPL Vermont Authors series continues on Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00pm with author Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling's launch of his new book, If It Sounds Like a Quack...: A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine, in which he examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments -- including some that are really non-traditional.

With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream. Holgoltz-Hetling introduces us to "medical freedom advocates," including an international leech smuggler, a gold miner-turned health drink salesman who may or may not be from the Andromeda galaxy, and a man who says he can turn people into zombies with aerosol spray. One by one, these alternative healers find customers, then expand and influence, always seeking the one thing that would take their businesses to the next level--the support and approval of the government.

Dr. Jessica Rouse, a local, board certified Family Medicine physician will appear with Matthew to debate some of the questions his book asks, such as: Should the government dictate what is medicine and what isn't? Can we have public health when disagreements over science are this profound? No, seriously, can you turn people into flesh-eating zombies? 

Holgoltz-Hetling is a journalist specializing in narrative features and investigative reporting. He has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a George Polk Award, and been voted Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press association, among numerous other honors. He is the author of one previous book, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, and his writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, USA Today, Popular Science, Atavist Magazine, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Associated Press, and elsewhere. He lives in the Upper Valley. 

Kirkus Reveiws writes, If It Sounds Like a Quack is a, "wry, wide-ranging investigation into the 'alternative medicine' business...rollicking...entertaining...but there is a dark side. [Hongoltz-Hetling] knows when to be funny and when to be serious." We are looking forward to a conversation both entertaining and stimulating!