Pope Brock's Charlatan (Broadway Books, 2009, ISBN 0307339890) is a non-fiction account of America's most notorious huckster, John Brinkley, who gained fame and riches by selling a dangerous form of snake oil to impotent men. The book, broken down into short, succinct chapters, begins with Brinkley's rise to fame and his eventual downfall at the hands of a doctor by the name of Morris Fishbein.
The Rise of a Snake Oil Salesman
Brinkley first learned the basics of snake oil sales by working on various tonics that were very popular during the 1900's. These tonics, which promised everything from baldness cures to muscle strengthening to even cancer cures, were sold not so much because of results but rather because of the entertaining men who sold them from town to town. These so-called miracle tonics began to quickly develop a cult following, not just by enterprising men interested in learning the trade, but also in the halls of budding medical associations who were keenly interested in discrediting snake oil.
A New Kind of Surgery
Brinkley's career didn't take off until he developed his own form of "miracle," not in the form of a tonic but rather in a new surgical method. This method would make him not only rich but also notorious, and would eventually earn him the attention of certain medical professions if not for the fact that he was not, in fact, an accredited doctor than for the fact that he was promising something medical science had so far been unable to do: cure impotence. The method? Why, surgically inserting goat testicles into a patients scrotum, of course.
A New Radio Station
As clients poured into Brinkley's clinic, it was clear he would need to expand in order to make more money, and there was no better way to do it during the 1920's than to build a radio station. With his own radio show, Brinkley could reach millions of Americans, offering not just his surgical expertise (he offered "high-end" surgeries to wealthier clients promising more "elite" goat testicles) but also a variety of tonics that cured a variety of illnesses.
But with his new found success, rumors began slowly circulating. It was clear not everyone who underwent Brinkley's miracle surgery were being cured. In fact, quite a few weren't leaving the clinic at all. It was only a matter of time before Dr. Morris Fishbein, notorious for proving miracle tonics and cures to be quackery, would investigate.
Hellhound on His Tail
Fishbein would spent the next decade dedicated to bringing down Brinkley, and Brinkley for his part would spend much of his later years trying to get even bigger. He ran for governor. He considered running for president. And through it all, his small empire began to show cracks. Fishbein had evidence and the backing of the medical establishment ... all that was left was proving Brinkley was a quack.
Charlatan is a great book that wouldn't have worked nearly as well if not for the personality shining through in the narration. It's clear that Charlatan needed a humorous, detailed voice to tell the story, and that's exactly what Brock accomplished. The story of America's most famous quack doctor is fun, interesting, and humorous.
Ken Brosky - Ken Brosky's first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and ...
