Last week I was asked: "After reading 100 books in 2008, was there one book that you would choose as your favorite?"
Wow, a great question . . . and I really had to think about my answer. Last night I went into my library and let my eyes roam down the long list of books I'd read, really thinking about them, but there was one title that caught my eye and my imagination. I think it was my favorite, in part, because it was so bizarre, so "out there", I remember that I couldn't put the book down.
So, my favorite book of 2008 was: Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, The Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, by Pope Brock.
In case you missed my blog about this book, it is the true American story of Dr. John R. Brinkley, who for some twenty years, ran a clinic in Kansas devoted to implanting goat testicles into men who wanted to be more virile. The good doctor killed dozens (most due to complications of infection) but still managed to attract thousands, yeah, millions of Americans through his Christian fundamentalist radio broadcasts (mostly women who wanted their men to be more attentive and virile). The doctor made millions from his goat testicle cures and, when he was convicted of malpractice some years later, still commanded the allegiance of tens of thousands of Americans who believed he was something akin to Jesus incarnate.
Wow . . . how little things have changed! If you don't think that's true, just tune into some of the Christian "faith healers" who are soaking up the TV airwaves today. It's goat testicles, but of a more modern variety, all over again. People still want to believe, and they will believe most anything!
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