{"product_id":"american-breakdown-9780062941398","title":"American Breakdown","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eSilent Spring\u003c\/em\u003e for the human body, this wide-ranging, genre-crossing literary mystery interweaves the author's quest to understand the source of her own condition with her telling of the story of the chronically ill 19th-century diarist Alice James--ultimately uncovering the many hidden health hazards of life in America.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Jennifer Lunden became chronically ill after moving from Canada to Maine, her case was a medical mystery. Just 21, unable to hold a book or stand for a shower, she lost her job and consigned herself to her bed. The doctor she went to for help told her she was \"just depressed.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter suffering from this enigmatic illness for five years, she discovered an unlikely source of hope and healing: a biography of Alice James, the bright, witty, and often bedridden sibling of brothers Henry James, the novelist, and William James, the father of psychology. Alice suffered from a life-shattering illness known as neurasthenia, now often dismissed as a \"fashionable illness.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this meticulously researched and illuminating debut, Lunden interweaves her own experience with Alice's, exploring the history of medicine and the effects of the industrial revolution and late-stage capitalism to tell a riveting story of how we are a nation struggling--and failing--to be healthy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough science--and the politics behind its funding--has in many ways let Lunden and millions like her down, in the end science offers a revelation that will change how readers think about the ecosystems of their bodies, their communities, the country, and the planet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51201528004882,"sku":"9780062941398","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d8e45103-34ba-4856-b809-a9dc40f85e60.jpg?v=1744913805","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/american-breakdown-9780062941398","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}