Bargaining for life

by Barbara Bates

Tuberculosis was the most common cause of death in the nineteenth century. The lingering illness devastated the lives of patients and families, and by the turn of the century, fears of infectiousness compounded their anguish. Historians have usually focused on the changing medical knowledge of tuberculosis or on the social campaign to combat it. In Bargaining for Life, Barbara Bates documents the human story. Using a wide range of sources, especially the extensive correspondence of a Philadelphia physician, Lawrence F. Flick, Bates portrays the lives of tuberculous men and women as they tried to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain their social relationships. Their caretakers, including relatives, clergy, physicians, and nurses, all had their own reasons for providing help. In ways that differed with class, race, gender, and sometimes political influence, sanatoriums, hospitals, and visiting nurse societies mediated various bargains between the sick and