The Midtown Scholar Bookstore is pleased to welcome international journalist Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling to Harrisburg for an in-person conversation and signing on his new book, If It Sounds Like a Quack: A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine. Hongoltz-Hetling will be in conversation with journalist Karen Hendricks.
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments — including some that are really non-traditional.
With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream. In these pages you'll meet medical freedom advocates including an international leech smuggler, a gold miner-turned health drink salesman who may or may not be from the Andromeda galaxy, and a man who says he can turn people into zombies with aerosol spray. One by one, these alternative healers find customers, then expand and influence, always seeking the one thing that would take their businesses to the next level–the support and approval of the government.
Should the government dictate what is medicine and what isn't? Can we have public health when disagreements over science are this profound? No, seriously, can you turn people into flesh-eating zombies? If It Sounds Like a Quack asks these critical questions while telling the story of how we got to this improbable moment, and wondering where we go from here. Buckle up for a bumpy ride…unless you're against seatbelts.
About the Speakers:
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling is a journalist specializing in narrative features and investigative reporting. He has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a George Polk Award, and been voted Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press association, among numerous other honors. He is the author of one previous book, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, and his writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, USA Today, Popular Science, Atavist Magazine, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Associated Press, and elsewhere. He lives in Vermont.
Karen Hendricks is an award-winning lifelong journalist. Karen’s writing is regularly published in numerous magazines including TheBurg, Harrisburg; she also hosts and produces TheBurg Podcast, which has garnered statewide journalism awards. In 2022, she was recognized with a national journalism award from the Society for Features Journalism. She previously worked in television, radio and newspaper. You can find her writing at writerkarenhendricks.com.
