Deeply researched and meticulously crafted, American Breakdown is at once a damning indictment of the systems shaping our way of life and an engrossing narrative of the lives of two women connected across the centuries. A literary triumph, brimming with righteous anger, empathy, curiosity, and hope.” — Olivia Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine
“Part medical mystery, part literary excavation, Jennifer Lunden's intimate and intricate debut chronicles her search for the source of her unexplained chronic illness and the parallels she finds in the biography of Alice James. In the end, Lunden arrives at an explanation for her body's mutiny, but her scalpel-like prose also identifies and resects the illness latent in our entire ailing system—personal, political, planetary…. This mesmerizing book is an essential story for our time, maybe the story.” — Ted Genoways, James Beard Award-winning author of The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food
“Using herself as an investigative tool, Lunden unspools an incredibly researched story not just of her “mysterious fatigue” but of how a bankrupt healthcare system in a broken country gaslights women about their bodies and minds. A tale that is both enraging and affirming. If you demand answers about anything, let Lunden be your guide.” — Kerri Arsenault, winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 2021 Rachel Carson Environment Book Award and author of Mill Town
“Jennifer Lunden has written a wide-ranging, fascinating, and deeply personal account of unexplained illness, showing that behind the all-too-common word “unexplained” lie decades of medical failings. By tracing lines of medical epistemology, the impact of research funding, and the proliferation of chemicals in modern life, both in her own life and across historical parallels, she takes on nothing less than the entire Western medical system. Her research is comprehensive, her writing both rousing and riveting. Anyone who has ever felt abandoned by healthcare will find not only comfort in this crucial book, but inspiration to push for change.” — Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, 2023 United States Artists fellow and author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
“Epic in scope and impeccably researched, from wallpaper to junk food to the pharmaceutical industry, and art, Lunden unfolds a personal and historical medical mystery, filled with secret poisons and unexpectedly poignant, relatable moments. American Breakdown offers a vital message of hope and advocacy for our bodies and future.” — Emily Maloney, author of Cost of Living
“Deftly moving between the personal and the political, Jennifer Lunden offers both an intimate, affecting account of two women's illnesses and an eye-opening indictment of how American capitalism is harming us all.” — Maya Dusenbery, author of Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick
“More than a medical memoir, Lunden’s book is a multifaceted exploration of how runaway capitalism, gender bias, and a broken medical system may lead to the collapse of our society. In the tradition of Silent Spring, she lays out a roadmap for revolution.” — Kris Newby, author of Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons
“An earnest chronicle of the enigma of chronic fatigue syndrome, the byzantine dysfunction of the medical world and the chemicals and pesticides that are making so many of us ill, American Breakdown is told in short, accessible, and interwoven fragments that will be familiar and edifying to anyone who has been sick and tried to find an answer to the painful question, why?” — Caitlin Shetterly, author of the award-winning memoir, Modified: GMOs and the Threat to Our Food, Our Land, Our Future
“Visionary and exacting, American Breakdown is a revolutionary guide for responding to chronic illness in an industrial society.” — Katherine E. Standefer, author of Kirkus Prize Finalist Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life
“An absolutely beautiful book, and a life story that is all too familiar. How many brilliant books need to be written by patients suffering from these overlooked and undervalued illnesses before the medical community starts to pay attention? If there is any justice in the world, American Breakdown will be the tipping point.” — Sarah Ramey, author of The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness
“Lunden shines a sobering light on CFS, its evolution and misinterpretations, and its increasing prevalence within the general population. Blending theory and memoir, the author personifies her struggle for wellness and its associated costs and consequences. An alarming chronicle of catastrophic chronic illness and a passionate plea for health care reform.” — Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-11
A writer and social worker charts her harrowing descent into mysterious physical illness.
What is now more popularly known as chronic fatigue syndrome was a complete anomaly to Lunden when, in 1989, at age 21, she became ill six months after relocating from Canada to Maine. Her symptoms included lassitude, exhaustion, headaches, and deep depression. A mononucleosis diagnosis brought little relief since her chronic weakness persisted so intensely that she could barely hold a pen to write in her diary. In 1988, the “wicked flu that never went away” received its official name: chronic fatigue syndrome. With limited resources for regular physician visits, the author became disheartened and even suicidal. At 26, Lunden discovered the biography of mid-19th-century diarist and social critic Alice James, sister to novelist Henry and psychologist William, who developed a fatigue that crippled most of her bodily systems. Lunden drew immediate correlations between James’ debilitating medical ailment—first misclassified as hysteria, then neurasthenia—and her own ordeal. With a detective’s persistence, the author began intensive research into potential causes, including chemical toxins and stress emergencies. She dug into the work of immunologists, toxicologists, and infectious disease specialists, past to present, who studied CFS, and her investigation broadened her perspective about not only overlooked medical ailments, but the current problematic state of American health care in general. Throughout, Lunden deftly interweaves her story with that of James. After producing such an exhaustive survey of disease and disorder, the author’s cynicism is understandable, and she criticizes physicians who dismissed her with depression, just as James’ doctors had mischaracterized her symptoms as female hysteria. Lunden shines a sobering light on CFS, its evolution and misinterpretations, and its increasing prevalence within the general population. Blending theory and memoir, the author personifies her struggle for wellness and its associated costs and consequences.
An alarming chronicle of catastrophic chronic illness and a passionate plea for health care reform.
