Trying to Give Ease: Tommie Bass and the Story of Herbal Medicine

The authors here focus on the life, practices, and accumulated knowledge of the late Appalachian herbalist Tommie Bass. This book merits praise as one of the best investigations of an herbalist and his context in the literature of folk medicine and as a powerful synthesis of important historical, social, and psychological factors in general folk medicine.--NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH CAROLINA FOLK SOCIETY. In Trying to Give Ease, John K.

Crellin and Jane Philpott focus on the life, practices, and accumulated knowledge of the late A. L. Tommie Bass, a widely known and admired Appalachian herbalist.

Informed by insights drawn from several disciplines, particularly anthropology, their broad historical analyses of self-care practices and herbal remedies draw heavily on recorded interviews with Bass and his patients. Special attention is given to local resources that shape alternative medicine, the backgrounds of herbal practitioners, and the cultural currency of medical concepts once central to professional medicine and now less common. The authors report on both the physical effects of herbal remedies and the psychological factors that have an impact on their success.

Trying to Give Ease is a companion to A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants, also published by Duke University Press.