Power of Habit, Karin Fossum, Elixir, Jackie Kennedy, and Theodore Roosevelt

Reported by Meygan

Nevermore opened with the discussion of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. The book discusses the neurons in our brains and what exactly causes habits to form. The reader said it goes like this: first there is a cue, then a routine, then a reward. For example, if someone gets a cue to eat something sweet at a certain hour or on a specific day, then the routine is to eat that something sweet; hence, the reward is eating something sweet and tasty. But what happens when you are trying to watch your diet and cut out sweets? Well, the author states that the cues never go away. However, you can change the routine. Therefore, when you get the cue that it is time to eat something sweet, do not give into the routine of eating a chocolate cupcake or a glazed doughnut, as difficult as that may be. Instead, change your routine and do something different to “reward” yourself! The reader said although there are very interesting parts, there are a few pages she skimmed over due to the information not being particularly interesting. Another Nevermore member recommended that she read the beginning and the end but skip the middle. There is even a section about a habit that the author had to break and how he did so. Duhigg also talks about corporations and advertising and how they have changed culture by creating products, such as Febreeze, that cause consumers to develop habits. 

We have discussed Broken by Karin Fossum in Nevermore before (it is a mystery novel where  the narrator, who is an author, is awakened by a man that she has created through her own imagination and asks her to write his story). Another Nevermore attempted Broken but could not finish it. Most Nevermore members have a 35 page rule, meaning that if the reader doesn’t like the book within 35 pages, then it is a sign to move on. The story could not hold her attention. But this is why we love coming to Nevermore—it is wonderful that us book lovers can agree and disagree about books, all while enjoying our doughnuts, hot coffee, and the company of one another, of course. 

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story by Barbara Leaming was discussed next. This book focuses on Jackie Kennedy’s post-traumatic stress disorder that developed after her husband, John F Kennedy, was assassinated. Our Nevermore reader said Barbara Leaming approached the topic with a narcissist view about Jackie Kennedy and her opinions are not very flattering. The reader isn’t sure if she would recommend the book and thought the book would really dish the dirt about Jackie but didn’t. 

Next was Barbara J. Martin’s Elixir: The American Tragedy of a Deadly Drug. This is the true story of a deadly drug, which was created in our very hometown! The drug, called Elixir Sulfanilamide, was developed to help patients take sulfa drugs without the bitter taste of sulfur. However, shortly after the drug was prescribed, some of the patients started dying. The Massengill Company ordered a recall but did not specify why. This book focuses on the deadly drug and how it killed more than 100 people, many of them children.

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard was highly enjoyed. The Nevermore reader said this book reminded her why paper books are better than online books because the paper book had pictures while her Kindle did not. The River of Doubt is about the true adventure of Theodore Roosevelt and his trip down the Amazon. On this trip, he encountered Indians with poison-tipped arrows, piranhas, snakes, and rapid rivers. Roosevelt survived a treacherous trip that killed three men, but this book gives a deeper insight to Roosevelt’s actions and feelings. The Nevermore reader was fascinated with the story and couldn’t understand how Roosevelt and the others could have been so careless when planning for this trip.

Elixir: The American Tragedy of a Deadly Drug, by Barbara J. Martin

Reviewed by William Wade

Elixir: The American Tragedy of a Deadly Drug, by Barbara Martin is the story of an event in the history of The S. E. Massengill Company, a Bristol pharmaceutical concern, which in 1937 brought out a liquid version of a sulfa drug advertised as Elixir Sulfanilamide that could be taken orally and overcome patient objections to swallowing a very bitter pill.  Confident that it would be a best seller, the Massengill Company sent out large quantities of the product to its salesman, drug stories, and other outlets.

But in preparing the medicine Massengill scientists had unwittingly dissolved the sulfa in a solution of diethylene glycol, generally known to be toxic to humans.  Within a very short time frame, news reports came from physicians that their patients were dying.  Initially the Massengill firm insisted that their drug could not be the cause, for it was known that sulfa was safe in limited quantities.  But rapidly increasing deaths of those using the product brought in the Federal Drug Administration, which operated under very limited powers given it from a 1906 act of Congress.  The Massengill Company ordered a recall of the product, but saying nothing about its danger.  The FDA was not satisfied and launched a thorough going national search for every ounce that had passed into the hands of hospitals, doctors, or druggists, sometimes skirting the very limited bounds of their authority.

Much of the book is given over to this search, which federal agents termed a race against death.  As much of the medicine had been sent to rural areas in Southern states, it was not an easy matter.  Simply notifying American consumers of the threat was difficult in a nation without television, national radio broadcasting of  news, and where many newspapers were locally oriented.  In one case, heroic agents recovered a vial of Elixir Sulfanilamide resting on top of the coffin of a victim in the cemetery where he had been buried.  In all, more than hundred persons, many of them children, died from the drug.

Dr. Samuel E. Massengill, head of the Bristol firm, was arrested and placed on trial, charged with adulterating and misbranding his product, but the likelihood of a long contentious trial caused government authorities to accept his admission of limited guilt and a monetary fine.  Harold Cole Watkins, his lead scientist who had developed the product, committed suicide.  Within Bristol public opinion was strongly on the side of Dr. Massengill, who had built his company from scratch over the years to one of the city’s leading employers.  Shortly after the conclusion of the trial he was elected head of the local Chamber of Commerce.

The Massengill Company suffered for a few years with declining sales, but after World War II became larger and  more profitable.  Perhaps the major outcome of the entire episode was the enactment by Congress of a new law giving much greater authority to the federal government in the regulation of pharmaceuticals.  Indeed, this was the beginning of federal responsibility to actively ensure American citizens that their medicines were safe and efficacious.  This book is a detailed, gripping, and a valuable account of that important event.

Elixir: The American Tragedy of a Deadly Drug, by Barbara J. Martin.  Lancaster, PA Barkerry Press, 2014.  320 pages.