This was an entertaining history of the men and women who were labeled as quacks in Britain during the 17th to the early 19th centuries. The term "quack" was applied to men and women who were accused of practicing medicine (Physic) in bad faith, those who traveled from town to town and gave public performances and demonstrations, sold nostrums that proclaimed to cure numerous unrelated diseases from 'Rheumatick Defluctions' to 'Wind Cholick' to 'Ptisick or shortnesse of breath', advertised widely in newspapers, or made outrageous claims about their clientele (many claimed to be the personal physician to kings and queens throughout Europe), their cure rates and the efficacy of their medicines.

However, Porter shows us that several practitioners who were labeled as quacks received medical degrees from Oxford, Cambridge or other renowned schools, and nearly all subscribed to the same medical theories and treatments used by the regular physicians. Many of the standard medical providers also used the same techniques as the quacks, such as advertising, frequent use of nostrums to purge the body of toxins that were the cause of illness, and frequent self promotion. The success of quackery was also aided by the lack of regulation, as neither the courts nor town officials sought to enforce standards on practitioners until the early 19th century, and by the state of medical knowledge in the 17th and 18th centuries, which was dominated by theories beliefs rather than proven fact.

Quackery slowly fell out of fashion in the early and mid 19th century in England, as alternative medical movements such as homeopathy, naturopathy and medical botany took hold, and as allopathic (standard) medical practice became more regulated and restricted.

"Quacks" contains several detailed accounts of notable practitioners, along with detailed etchings and engravings of quacks as they beguile and entertain potential customers. The book was overly repetitive at times, especially in the sections about advertising and nostrums, but overall it was a well written and balanced look at quackery in Britain. ( )