Dormandy, Thomas

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Obtained M.D. and Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520-9040.

CAREER:

Whittington Hospital, University of London, London, England, and University of Brunel, London, consultant chemical pathologist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Pathologists.

WRITINGS:

The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis, Hambledon Press (Rio Grande, OH), 1999.

Moments of Truth: Four Creators of Modern Medicine, Wiley (Chichester, England), 2003.

The Worst of Evils: Man's Fight against Pain: A History, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2006.

Contributor to journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Thomas Dormandy is a retired consultant chemical pathologist and professor who worked at the University of Brunel and Whittington Hospital at the University of London. Dormandy has written several books in addition to over three hundred scientific articles. In 1999 Dormandy published The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis. In it he combines scientific and sociological history to create his account of tuberculosis and various people's struggle with the disease primarily in the United States and Europe.

Reviews of The White Death were mixed among the critics. Muiris Houston, writing in the British Medical Journal, commented that Dormandy "has a knack of explaining technical matters" as he "weaves literature, social history, pharmacology, and epidemiology into an entertaining tale." In a Lancet review, Anne Hardy agreed that the book was "clearly written," but felt it "offers little to stimulate the interest of those already familiar with … the history of tuberculosis in general." Writing in the English Historical Review, Helen Jones thought the outline of the book was unclear. "There is no explanation at the outset of how the chapters are organized, and no sense of what will follow from chapter to chapter," Jones commented. A critic concluded in a Publishers Weekly review, however, that the "prodigious research and an anecdotal style blend to make this a fascinating foray into the history of medicine."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

British Medical Journal, June 19, 1999, Muiris Houston, review of The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis, p. 1705.

English Historical Review, April, 2000, Helen Jones, review of The White Death, p. 417.

Lancet, January 22, 2000, Anne Hardy, review of The White Death, p. 327.

Library Journal, March 1, 2000, Kathleen Arsenault, review of The White Death, p. 118.

New Statesman, February 19, 1999, Michael Barrett, review of The White Death, p. 47.

Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2000, review of The White Death, p. 97.

ONLINE

King's College, London, Web site,http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ (June 24, 2006), brief biography of author.

Rebecca's Reads,http://www.rebeccasreads.com/ (May 6, 2001), author interview.