The Rise of Viagra

"[An] engaging account and trenchant critique of the powerful blue pill. Based on extensive research, and written with clarity, grace, and wit, The Rise of Viagra chronicles an incredible intertwining of bodies, pleasures, marketing savvy, and the undying quest for the medical fix." - Steven Epstein,author of Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge "A fine piece of contemporary history. The Rise of Viagra paints a thoughtful portrait, letting the reader decide whether the Viagra phenomenon is ultimately to be celebrated or rued." - Katharine Greider,author of The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers "Meika Loes book tells the story of Viagra with skill and verve. She brings to that tale a sharp eye, a fine ear, and just the right degree of irony." - Daniel Callahan,author of What Price Better Health: Hazards of the Research Imperative "The book is not a polemic but a deep and thoughtful examination of derivative problems not anticipated by Viagras aggressive marketers. It is especially effective when placing the campaign to promote Viagra (a trade name) in the greater context of the medicalization of modern health care." (Choice) "Meika Loe's core argument is that the unprecedented success of Viagra in America is not the result of an exciting scientific breakthrough bringing relief to the desperate or the dying. Rather, commercial interests have created a socially desirable but medically limited product-ironically, by denying the fundamentally social nature of sex. . . . The central argument gains pace throughout the book, becoming increasingly compelling as the ominous implications of Viagra for American society unfold." (The New England Journal of Medicine)