Normal at Any Cost
Format: Hardcover
ISBN13: 9781585426836
Hardcover|9781585426836
✨ Featured Offer
Brand New
$63.08
List Price: $26.95
🚚
See all 3 offers from $13.12 FREE standard delivery by: 03 Apr 2026
Overview
A fascinating story of medical experimentation, parental love, and the extreme measures taken to make children fit within ?the norm.'
Most people rarely think about their height beyond a little wishing and hoping. But for the parents of children who are ridiculed by their peers for being extraordinarily tall or extraordinarily short, height can cause great anguish. For decades, the medical establishment has responded to these worries by prescribing controversial treatments and therapies for children who fall outside of the ?normal? height range. While some have benefited, many have suffered from devastating side effects.
In this riveting book, Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove provide a voice for the parents, doctors, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies involved in these experimental treatments. They also tell the story of the boys and girls themselves, many of them now grown, who were subjected to a wide range of non-FDA-approved medical procedures. These treatments? which consisted of extreme doses of estrogen, pituitary glands taken from both animals and human cadavers, and testosterone injections'often had disastrous side effects.
Who is to say how tall is too tall, and how short is too short? For many of the individuals represented in this book, the answers have been clear'and they are grateful to the medical industry for improving upon nature. For others, left in the wake of this same science, the answers are fueled by tragic regret. The authors explore the dueling motives behind these procedures? with parents desperate to help their children ?fit in? and doctors and scientists hungry for scientific breakthroughs. Combining extensive research and in-depth interviews, Normal at Any Cost is the first book to place a human face on this complex and ethically charged medical history.
Most people rarely think about their height beyond a little wishing and hoping. But for the parents of children who are ridiculed by their peers for being extraordinarily tall or extraordinarily short, height can cause great anguish. For decades, the medical establishment has responded to these worries by prescribing controversial treatments and therapies for children who fall outside of the ?normal? height range. While some have benefited, many have suffered from devastating side effects.
In this riveting book, Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove provide a voice for the parents, doctors, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies involved in these experimental treatments. They also tell the story of the boys and girls themselves, many of them now grown, who were subjected to a wide range of non-FDA-approved medical procedures. These treatments? which consisted of extreme doses of estrogen, pituitary glands taken from both animals and human cadavers, and testosterone injections'often had disastrous side effects.
Who is to say how tall is too tall, and how short is too short? For many of the individuals represented in this book, the answers have been clear'and they are grateful to the medical industry for improving upon nature. For others, left in the wake of this same science, the answers are fueled by tragic regret. The authors explore the dueling motives behind these procedures? with parents desperate to help their children ?fit in? and doctors and scientists hungry for scientific breakthroughs. Combining extensive research and in-depth interviews, Normal at Any Cost is the first book to place a human face on this complex and ethically charged medical history.
| ISBN-13 | 9781585426836 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 1585426830 |
| Weight | 1.38 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 6.50 x 1.50 x 9.50 In |
| List Price | $26.95 |
| Edition | 1st Edition |
| Format | Hardcover |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 416 pages |
| Publisher | Tarcher |
| Published On | 2009-03-19 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Good
Seller details
Zoom Books East
Glendale Heights, IL, USA
Book is in like new condition with minimal signs of wear. Pages are clean and free from notes or hig...
Free delivery by: 03 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Free delivery by: 03 Apr 2026
✨ Brand New
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Free delivery by: 03 Apr 2026