12 - Rattlesnake King

America The Bizarre

English - December 26, 2019 11:00 - 38 minutes - 32.9 MB - ★★★★★ - 21 ratings
History Comedy history politics americanhistory comedy funny weirdhistory Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: 11- Christmas Mutiny

Next Episode: 13 - Bat Bombs

We discuss the origins of snake oil, how it was brought to America by Chinese Immigrants in the 1800's, and then how snake oil tradesmen created their own concoctions.

Support: https://www.patreon.com/americathebizarre

Sources:

“Chinese in the Post-Civil War South: A People Without History” by Lucy M. Cohen
“The Chinese-American Heritage” by David M. Brownstone
“The Use of Black Powder Nitroglycerine on the Transcontinental Railroad” from the Transcontinental
Railroad resources from the Linda Hall Library
“The Army of Canton in the High Sierra” by Alexander Saxton
“The History of Snake Oil” by Andrew Haynes in the Pharmaceutical Journal
“The Rattlesnake King” an excerpt from “Natural Causes: Death, Lies, and Politics in America’s Vitamin
and Herbal Supplement Industry” by Dan Hurley
“A History of ‘Snake Oil Salesman’” by Lakshmi Gandhi