Good For What Ails You

Dayton was once a hotbed for patent medicine sellers and manufacturers. It was a time of Redfern's Indian Tonic and Hirsch's Ambition Tablets, of liniments and cure-alls, of pills and powders and the occasional health potion. Step inside this book and see the lure of the ads, almanacs, trade cards and testimonials that sold a city, as well as a nation, on the idea of do-it-yourself medication. Discover the story of a Dayton traveling medicine show, a failed cure that caused a young woman to be murdered, and a dead man's testimonial of how he was feeling much better after taking a stimulating elixir. Here, in all its original color, is the history of the reckless and robust golden age of patent medicines in the Gem City.