Acquire Today An Infidel Body-Snatcher And The Fruits Of His Philosophy By Dan Allosso Disseminated As Paperbound

got this book after listening to the author chat about it in an online book club for a completely different book/topic, I found the author's YouTube site where he was posting his own audio readings of the chapters and I was hooked,

I'm amazed that Dr, Charles Knowlton's biography hasn't been written sooner! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the narrative of his life and the picture of rural America communities in the earlys that came to life in this book.
I even found mention of a distant relative of mine Hiram Hotchkiss included in the storyanother way I found the whole book such an engaging read.


The print version has some great notes on resources and Mr, Allosso's own thoughts and informed interpretations as well, I can see myself using this book as a source for other lines of research and readingthe freethinkers movement, the history of medicine, rural American economy peppermint oil! and of course, the birthcontrol and population control controversies of the time.


If you're into reading history/biography written in an accessible and entertaining manner, this book should go on your TBR list, I was given an ebook copy of this book to read and review, I did find the topic of the book, Charles Knowlton, to be a very interesting character, He certainly did a lot to further the cause of effective medicine and freethinking in this country, I had never heard of him before reading this book, It was interesting to read about the conflict between the traditional thinkers and the free thinkers of the time,

I guess my main issue with the book is with the style of the writing, I am afraid that I am probably traditional in how I want a history book to be written, When writing for anything other than personal communication, I do not think you should use contractions, It does not add to the writing to see "you're," "he's," and "I'd, " It makes it seem too informal,

It is also very obvious when the author is inserting his own opinion, I do not really read a biography for the author's opinion, I am reading a biography for a factual representation of the subject, Allow me to form my own opinion,

As far as the research, it does seem to have a good research foundation, I would have been very interested to see how the decline in the birthrate for Ashfield compared to the birthrate for the rest of the state.
I have no doubt that Knowles' publication, Fruits of Philosophy, had an impact, I just wanted to see how significant of an impact,

Overall, this was a very interesting subject, Dr. Knowles was clearly a forward thinker who did not confine himself to the traditions of the day, At the very least, he recognized the need for experiencebased medicine rather than traditionbased medicine, He recognized the need for women to be involved in their own personal health, He also championed freedom. I am glad I learned about him, An Infidel BodySnatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy is the story of a freethinker, Charles Knowlton called himself a “free enquirer”his enemies called him an “Infidel, ” Knowlton was also a “BodySnatcher, ” As a medical student, Charles Knowlton stole corpses to dissect, Charles was caught and convicted, and served time in jail,

After a troubled youth, Knowlton became a doctor and wrote America's first birth control book, Fruits of Philosophy, in, He was convicted and imprisoned for that as wellthis time with hard labor, Charles was an outsider for most of his life, fighting religious and social conformity, This is a true story about why outsiders are important, and what they can achieve,

Growing up surrounded by superstition and hypocrisy, Charles developed an unswerving dedication to finding and telling the truth, If the truth hed found was opposed by authorities in the church and government, Charles went ahead and told it anyway, This is a true story about the power of integrity,

Its also an adventure story, full of conflict, drama, humor, and a little horror, Charles Knowlton led an unusual life it gave him a radical outlook and led him to develop a unique personal philosophy, But it was what Charles did with this outlookthe fruits of his philosophythat really mattered, This is a true story about how experiences become ideas, and how ideas become actions, A well written, easy to read history of one man's freethinking life journey, His quest to be a doctor using evidencebased medicine leads him to talking/writing about social philosophy and contraception, All in and around New England in thes generally,

Knowlton thought it was a women's right and responsibility to have control over the number of children she had and to be able to time those children's births.
The change in family size for his area of practice is truly astounding!

This is one man's journey to find truth and evidence, it leads him to debates, jail, and into longterm adversarial relationships with church, state, and those opposed to his findings for moral reasons.
This is the true story of Charles Knowlton, of New England in the's,

I love history and I love medical things, so this booke was like candy to me,

I truly enjoyed this book, so full of history

Thank you Dan Allosso, for bring it all to life Thoroughly enjoyed this intelligent, straightforward biography of Dr.
Charles Knowlton. The author, Dan Allosso, paints a clear portrait of an undeveloped, early's Massachusetts, firmly entrenched in it's religious doctrine and lifestyle, and Dr.
Knowlton's struggles with poverty, health, education and opinion,

Personally, I was fascinated with the concept of "free thinkers" and how Dr, Knowlton took it upon himself to learn by experience and science, questioning the religion dominated early medical community, Surprising is the lengths he went to bring vital medical information to the public, enduring jail time and prosecution over and over, Many readers will find it astonishing that in our country founded on free speech, a doctor could go to jail for publishing and/or selling a medical book to the public.


Dr. Knowlton is sadly, a little known pioneer in medicine, birth control and the health and welfare of the poor, The author effectively and with easy language, brings this astounding and important life to his readers,

Intriguing and highly recommended, I recieved this book free as part of a Goodreads first reads giveaway,

I am a great fan of history books, especially those which educate us about individuals whose, despite the fact that their actions have made an impact on our past, names and exploits have been somewhat lost to general knowledge.
Doctor Charles Knowlton definitely fits into this category,

Knowlton was a “freethinker”, and not held down to following many the antiquated methods of medicine used at the time such as bleeding and mercury treatments.
In fact he came close to losing his own life to such toxic treatments during his early adulthood, treatments that not only made him desperately ill, but sent him into a deep depression that he was fortunate to recover from.


Believing that women should have the right to control the number of children they bore, he published his manual on birth control and most notable work The Fruits of Philosophy in.
For this he was prosecuted and imprisoned, but despite this he remained resolute to continue his freethinking style of medicine, Couple these facts with his early career as a “body snatcher” during his years of medical training, you have a fascinating character indeed,

Dan Alonso has managed to produce a biography of Charles knowlton that is not only rich in research based fact, but is fascinating in content.
He has successfully taken a little known pioneer of medicine, birth control and the health and welfare of the lesser classes, and made him easily accessible to historical enthusiasts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in
early American and medical history, or in fact anyone who is open to learning about a fascinating historical individual.


I am truly looking forward to reading Dan Allossos future works, Well done, and thank you,
An excellent book! Exciting, well written, thought provoking and informative, This is a biography of Dr, Charles Knowlton, a New England physician and freethinker who, while still a medical student, served time for exhuming corpses for the purposes of selling and dissecting them.
He also served time for writing and publishing a book that dealt with contraception in frank terms,

This is an interesting book of a fascinating, if littleknown, man, He wrote several books from which author Allosso quotes a few paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter, Allosso has not modernized spelling, punctuation, or vocabulary in these quotes, I found this lent the work a nice, authentic flavor, and spoke to the authors primary research, It is also interesting to note what has and hasnt changed in slightly less thanyears of written American English,

As a young man, Knowlton was on the receiving end of what has come to be known as “heroic medicine,

” Philosophically, it was based on the old Greek idea that health is a balance of the four “humors, ” Perhaps the most famous American to die of this treatment is George Washington, who may have lived to see theth century but for the careful attention of his doctors.


Please read the rest of the review sitelinkhere,

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