The Age of Anxiety A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers [Paperback]

Drugs for anxiety are a billion-dollar business in the United States. Yet in 1955, when the prescription tranquilizer Miltown became available, pharmaceutical executives worried that there was no market. InThe Age of Anxiety, historian Andrea Tone provides a comprehensive account of the rise of America's prescription drug culture through the lens of our complicated relationship with tranquilizers.

Andrea Toneis Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine at McGill University. She lives in Montreal.

Omagazine
“A fascinating history of our dependence on downers…. Thoughtful, timely, and evenhanded.

Kirkus
“Readable, informative account of how cultural, economic and political forces have shaped the way Americans address anxiety…. Untangles the variety of complex factors that have shaped Americans' increasing use of tranquilizers amid conflicting attitudes toward them.”

New York Post
“Very accessible and well-researched.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“[A] lively and thoughtful history of tranquilizers…. [Tone] is a diligent researcher, and she deftly covers the tangle of historical, medical, legal and cultural issues here without lapsing into jargon – no easy feat with a subject like this.”

Newsweek
“[A] smart and crisp history of American tranquilizer use.”

New England Journal of Medicine
“A superb history that illustrates which cultural groups embraced tranquilizers, how these drugs were initially wildly popular but were subsequently rejected, and the rise of SSRIs as their replacements…. Informative and intriguing.”