News
Cristin’s “Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: Unmaking Monsters” at SXSW on March 15th
Cristin is thrilled to be returning to SXSW 15 years after her first appearance! From the SXSW website: “Author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz gives an illustrated talk on Thomas Dent Mütter, founder of Philadelphia’s (in)famous Mütter Museum and subject of her New York Times best selling book Dr Mütter’s Marvels. Aptowicz shines a spotlight on the good, the bad and grotesque of 19th century medicine, and on the life of Thomas Dent Mütter, a brilliant surgeon who specialized on performing radical reconstructive surgery on the severely deformed in a time before anesthesia. Mutter was so flamboyant, in life and in the operating theater, that he would be crowned the “P.T. Barnum of the surgery room.” Dr Mutter’s Marvels was on the New York Times Best Seller list for 3 months, and was named a Best Book of 2014 by NPR, Amazon.com, the UK newspaper The Guardian, and The Onion’s AV Club, among other. The Wall Street Journal wrote that Aptowicz “rescues Mütter the man from undeserved obscurity, re-creating his short life and hard times with wit, energy, and gusto… A reminder that the course of human suffering and the progress of medical science are often messy, complex, and stranger than can be imagined.”” The event will take place at Tuesday, March 15 at 3:30PM in Room 10AB at the Austin Convention Center. For more information, please visit the SXSW website here.
Cristin to Give Mütter Lecture at Cleveland Musuem of Natural History (Jan 13)
From the Cleveland Museum of Natural History website: “Join New York Times bestselling author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz as she discusses the life and career of the famous surgeon Thomas Dent Mütter as detailed in her book “Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine.” “Dr. Mütter’s Marvels” chronicles the remarkable life of Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter (1811-1859): a dazzling, young American surgeon who was so flamboyant and audacious that he wore colorful silk suits to perform surgery, embellished his last name with an umlaut, and was described as the “[P.T.] Barnum of the surgery room.” Mütter was a revolutionary figure whose compassion-based philosophies and innovative surgical ideas and breakthroughs clashed with the constraints of his time. The vast collection of medical oddities he amassed to serve as teaching tools for his enormously popular lectures as a professor of medicine would later become the foundation for one of the most (in)famous museums in the world: Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. Please note that specimens from the Mütter Museum will not be on display at this event. A book signing follows the talk, which is free with general admission. The book is available for purchase in the Museum Store.” Here’s a link to the FB event page to RSVP & spread the word!
Cristin to Give Mütter Talk in Association with Berkeley’s The Bone Room (Jan 9)
From The Bone Room website: “Join us for An Evening of Bones & Books, as we return with our first event of the new year. Dive into the mind of historic physician and oddity collector, Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, with a detailed biography of his life, contributions to medicine, and interest in the bizarre. ‘Dr. Mütter’s Marvels’ is a New York Times bestseller by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, and chronicles the debonaire doctor’s journey through medicine and love of natural anomalies. Guests at the event can enjoy a lecture and Q&A with Cristin, a book signing, and a special appearance by a mystery guest. In order to guarantee a seat, please RSVP to bonesandbooks.events@gmail.com and include your name and number of guests. Those who come to the event without an RSVP will be asked to wait in line until 7:15pm, at which point unclaimed seats will be given on a first come-first served basis. We advise arriving promptly and coordinating travels ahead of time. Copies of ‘Dr. Mütter’s Marvels’ are now available for sale at The Bone Room (1573 Solano Ave) for $17, and available for loan at the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library (1170 The Alameda). Additional Mütter memorabilia will be available for purchase at the event. This event is FREE to attend, and open to all ages! We do advise that children be accompanied by an adult, as props will be used that may be upsetting to more sensitive guests. Please note that the RSVPs on this event page do not reflect the actual RSVP total; please address any questions or comments to bonesandbooks.events@gmail.com for further information.” Here’s a link to the FB event page for more information and to spread the word!
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