Summary
Summary
John Harvey Kellogg was one of America's most beloved physicians; a bestselling author, lecturer, and health-magazine publisher; founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium; and patron saint of the pursuit of wellness. His youngest brother, Will, was the founder of the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which revolutionized the mass production of food and what we eat for breakfast.In The Kelloggs, Howard Markel tells the sweeping saga of these two extraordinary men, whose lifelong competition and enmity toward one another changed America's notion of health and wellness from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and who helped change the course of American medicine, nutrition, wellness, and diet.As Markel chronicles the Kelloggs' fascinating, Magnificent Ambersons-like ascent into the pantheon of American industrialists, we see the vast changes in American social mores that took shape in diet, health, medicine, philanthropy, and food manufacturing during seven decades-changing the lives of millions and helping to shape our industrial age.
Author Notes
Howard Markel is Director, Historical Center for the Health Sciences, George E. Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, and Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan Medical School.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Medical historian Markel (An Anatomy of Addiction) delves into the contentious relationship between two highly accomplished brothers, exploring their impact on American culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though they worked together for years, John Harvey Kellogg, founder of Michigan's Battle Creek Sanitarium, and Will Keith Kellogg, a pioneer in the breakfast-cereal industry, spent much of their lives feuding, both in and out of court. Yet as Markel points out, "The lives and times of the Kellogg brothers afford a superb window through which we can view vast changes in social mores, belief systems, lifestyles, diets, health, science, medicine, public health, philanthropy, education, business, mass advertising, and food manufacturing as they evolved in the United States." Markel portrays the era as filled with disease, poor nutrition, and random death courtesy of poorly understood medical science. The time was ripe for radical new ideas and swift change. While Markel plays up the brothers' individual achievements, he likewise examines their failures, such as Kellogg's belief in eugenics and Will's perfectionist obsession with his company. "The psychic costs their flaws imposed upon each other were every bit as dear as their outsized talents, imagination, and lasting effect on the world," Markel concludes. It's a fascinating look at two people who helped shape a pivotal time. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Medical historian Markel (An Anatomy of Addiction, 2011) tells the turbulent tale of the Cain and Abel of America's Heartland (minus the fratricide): Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg. The bickering brothers endured a symbiotic and cutthroat fraternal relationship, and their food fights involved years of lawsuits. Both survived into their nineties without ever reconciling, yet they are forever linked to revolutionizing breakfast with ready-to-eat cereals, particularly Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Physician John was brilliant, narcissistic, and temperamental. He advocated biologic living, a holistic approach to wellness and longevity, and was obsessed with body cleanliness and bowel movements. He was a prolific writer, inventor of medical devices, and creator of many new food products who also performed over 22,000 operations and founded the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan (a hospital-spa-hotel complex). Will, a lonely man with exceptional organizational skills and business acumen and a strong work ethic, toiled for his brother for decades before becoming a titan in the food industry. He was a mass-marketing genius and a philanthropist. Markel's amazing amalgamation of biography and history, covering the pursuit of health in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America, industrialism, and the invention of cold cereals, is adorned with fetching photographs and illustrations. Sibling rivalry has rarely been so dastardly and delectable.--Miksanek, Tony Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Markel (history of medicine, Univ. of Michigan) contends that John Kellogg (1852-1943) is often unjustly remembered as a flamboyant quack, racist, and eugenicist, while his younger brother Will (1860-1951) is immortalized for his innovative development, production, and marketing of cold breakfast cereals. Markel demonstrates that John deserves more recognition for his contributions to modern medicine, having radically promoted the benefits of antiseptic surgery, probiotics, fiber, portion control, hydration, ergonomics, exercise, and adequate sleep. An internationally celebrated physician, writer, and lecturer, John founded the renowned Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1876 in his crusade to improve physical and spiritual wellness with "biologic living." Will dutifully supervised almost every -aspect of the "San's" operation-even collaborating in the revolutionary creation of flaked cereal products-until he could no longer tolerate John's domineering and belittling. In 1906, Will used his enterprising managerial skills and relentless perfectionism to create what became the Kellogg Company. Markel focuses on the brothers' development, characters, and demons, revealing how their mutual brilliance and drive, along with their competitiveness and resentfulness, bred remarkable achievements but destroyed their relationships. VERDICT General readers will value exploring the motivation and legacies of these accomplished yet flawed figures. [See Prepub Alert, 2/27/17.]-Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.