{"id":12469,"date":"2019-09-09T16:57:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T20:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=12469"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:57:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T20:57:35","slug":"episode-336-dawn-raffel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-336-dawn-raffel","title":{"rendered":"Episode 336 – Dawn Raffel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 336:
\nDawn Raffel<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_336_-_Dawn_Raffel.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“I think Couney understood that no one else was going to save these children if he didn’t.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Baby incubators and boardwalk sideshows: not exactly a natural fit nowadays, but once upon a time, the best way to save premature babies in America was to bring them to Dr. Couney’s “INCUBATOR BABIES”<\/a> exhibits in Coney Island, Atlantic City and other midways. Dawn Raffel<\/a> untangled his story and tells the stories of the children he saved in her wonderful book, The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies<\/a>\"\" (Blue Rider Press, out now in paperback). We get into the mysteries of Dr. Couney’s past, Dawn’s fascinations with Coney Island and with interwar America, the flaws in social care in the first half of 20th century America, the offline research that fueled the book, her relationship with some Couney’s surviving babies (now in their 80s and 90s), the obstetrics field’s resistance to Couney’s work, the missing ledger that would have disclosed the fates of many of the babies Dr. Couney treated, and whether she would’ve brought a premature baby to Dr. Couney. We also get into Dawn’s writing life, the outsized influence of her 13-year-old discovery of War & Peace<\/em>, her predilection for short chapters, how Topsy the Elephant really<\/em> died, and plenty more! (BONUS: I prattle on for a few minutes about my first half-marathon)<\/em> Give it a listen!<\/a> And go buy The Strange Case of Dr. Couney<\/a>\"\"!<\/p>\n

“The ethical questions about who gets to live are as relevant now as they were in Dr. Couney’s time.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n