The Product of Medicine

“What does the surgeon’s table owe to the factory floor? Caitjan Gainty reveals this and much more in her subtle, surprising, and endlessly fascinating account of American medical practitioners’ encounter with early twentieth-century industrial efficiency experts. Applying a historian’s scalpel to the rationalizing but also egalitarian ambitions of the era when medicine modernized, she adroitly lays bare the tensions—past and present—of health care provision in a capitalist democracy.” - Sarah E. Igo, author of The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America

“In this fascinating and fabulous book Caitjan Gainty retells the story of US medical history through the lens of industrialization and the industrial logics that made American medicine modern. Impressively conceptualized, cogently argued, and beautifully written, this book will attract significant interest while making an important contribution to the field.” - Joseph M. Gabriel, author of Medical Monopoly: Intellectual Property Rights and the Origins of the Modern Pharmaceutical Industry

"The work is . . . an important contribution not just to histories of efficiency, but broader histories of American medicine, one of broad interest to historians and sociologists—researchers, students, and educators alike." - Martin D. Moore, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

"[A] gold standard for scholarly reference related to the history of 20th century medical efficiency." - Eric Persaud, Family Medicine