Out of Joint

Mary Felstiner went to bed one night an active professional and healthy young mother and woke the next morning literally out of joint. With hands and arms no longer working right, she had discovered a first sign of rheumatoid arthritis, the virulent form of a common disease. Although arthritis attacks one in three Americans, "Out of Joint" is the first book to tell both the personal and the public story of this prevalent yet neglected disease. Part memoir, part medical and social history, Felstiner's book weaves her private experience into far-reaching investigations of a socially hidden ailment, exposing little-known medical research and provocative social issues. It also explores the challenges of any chronic condition - how one handles love, work, sexuality, fatigue, betrayal, pain, time, mortality, rights, myths, and memory. This story of one woman living with arthritis is a moving meditation on the way chronic conditions can be treated by enlisting the past.