Awards

• Commended for Independent Publisher Book Awards (Biography) 2015
• Winner of 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards finalist.
• Winner of 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards finalistSilver Medal, Biography category, 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
• Winner of 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards finalistSilver Medal, Biography category, 2015 Independent Publisher Book AwardsWinner, 2015 Historical Society .

Overview

Purveyors of spiritualized medicine have been legion in American religious history, but few have achieved the superstar status of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his Battle Creek Sanitarium. In its heyday, the ""San"" was a combination spa and Mayo Clinic. Founded in 1866 under the auspices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and presided over by the charismatic Dr. Kellogg, it catered to many well-heeled health seekers including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Presidents Taft and Harding. It also supported a hospital, research facilities, a medical school, a nursing school, several health food companies, and a publishing house dedicated to producing materials on health and wellness. Rather than focusing on Kellogg as the eccentric creator of corn flakes or a megalomaniacal quack, Brian C. Wilson takes his role as a physician and a theological innovator seriously and places his religion of ""Biologic Living"" in an on-going tradition of sacred health and wellness. With the fascinating and unlikely story of the ""San"" as a backdrop, Wilson traces the development of this theology of physiology from its roots in antebellum health reform and Seventh-day Adventism to its ultimate accommodation of genetics and eugenics in the Progressive Era.

Full Product Details

9780253014474

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Reviews

A well-researched biography that seeks to restore the reputation of the doctor satirized in T. C. Boyle's novelThe Road to Wellville and in the film of the same name. Wilson has done much more than provide a sympathetic biography of the man who headed the once-famous Battle Creek Sanitarium...There's much here to interest both adherents to and skeptics of today's alternative and holistic medicines, as well as fans of American history, especially the history of religions. -Kirkus Reviews While he may look like a certain Kentucky Fried Colonel, Kellogg was an early advocate of a vegan diet and the intriguing figure behind the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium that paved the way for many contemporary ideas of holistic health and wellness...Wilson's lively and accessible writing introduces readers to spiritualism, millennialism, the temperance and social purity movements, Swedenborgians, and Mormons... [A] thought-provoking portrait of a charismatic, intelligent medical doctor who never stopped absorbing new information and honing his theories, even when he was faced with disfellowship from his church and ostracism by friends and colleagues. -ForeWord Reviews Wilson does an admirable job of portraying how the doctor's beliefs shifted and adapted over time... Readers with a keen interest in religious history, particularly as it relates to health care, will enjoy this biography the most. -Library Journal This is a thoroughly researched and engagingly written biography of one of the most influential and intriguing figures in the history of American health culture. More, it provides a fascinating exploration of the melding of biological science with religion to create a worldview in which physical well-being is mandatory for morality, with health equated to holiness and sickness interpreted as sin. It is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the evolution of health beliefs and practices in the United States. -James C. Whorton, Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America Accounts of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of flaked cereals and peanut butter and advocate of sexual abstinence and frequent bowel movements, vary from mockery to adulation.By focusing instead on Kellogg's changing religious views, from Seventh-day Adventism to eugenicism, Brian C. Wilson has written the most balanced biography yet:vivid, perceptive, and meticulously researched. -Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health:A Study of Ellen G. White

Accounts of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of flaked cereals and peanut butter and advocate of sexual abstinence and frequent bowel movements, vary from mockery to adulation.By focusing instead on Kellogg s changing religious views, from Seventh-day Adventism to eugenicism, Brian C. Wilson has written the most balanced biography yet: vivid, perceptive, and meticulously researched. Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White--Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White

This is a thoroughly researched and engagingly written biography of one of the most influential and intriguing figures in the history of American health culture. More, it provides a fascinating exploration of the melding of biological science with religion to create a worldview in which physical well-being is mandatory for morality, with health equated to holiness and sickness interpreted as sin. It is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the evolution of health beliefs and practices in the United States. James C. Whorton, University of Washington--James C. Whorton, University of Washington

This is a thoroughly researched and engagingly written biography of one of the most influential and intriguing figures in the history of American health culture. More, it provides a fascinating exploration of the melding of biological science with religion to create a worldview in which physical well-being is mandatory for morality, with health equated to holiness and sickness interpreted as sin. It is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the evolution of health beliefs and practices in the United States. - James C. Whorton, Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America Accounts of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of flaked cereals and peanut butter and advocate of sexual abstinence and frequent bowel movements, vary from mockery to adulation.A A By focusing instead on Kellogg's changing religious views, from Seventh-day Adventism to eugenicism, Brian C. Wilson has written the most balanced biography yet:A A vivid, perceptive, and meticulously researched. - Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health:A A Study of Ellen G. White

Author Information

Brian C. Wilson is Professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. His publications include Yankees in Michigan and What Is Religion?

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