Andy McPhee is the author of The Doctors’ Riot of 1788: Body Snatching, Bloodletting, and Anatomy in America, a historical nonfiction account of a riot against doctors for stealing bodies, and Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town, a historical nonfiction book about the worst air pollution disaster in US history. He has also written four nonfiction books for young adults, written or edited more than 750 newspaper and magazine articles, and managed the publication from beginning to end of more than sixty healthcare textbooks and reference books. A former registered nurse McPhee practiced and taught nursing for many years and worked in the publishing field even more years, starting as a writer and editor at Weekly Reader’s mid-level science magazine and finishing as a healthcare textbook publisher for F. A. Davis in Philadelphia..
He is a Fellow of the National Writing Project and earned two feature writing awards from the Association of Educational Publishers, now a division of the American Association of Publishers. He has presented numerous writing seminars at national conferences, given a number of webinars, and appeared on several podcasts for his books. He was an award-winning actor in community theaters in two states and also directed a number of plays and musicals.
Now retired, Andy has been married nearly 30 years. He and his wife have four children and five grandchildren. The couple live in Saint Petersburg, Florida, with their two dogs. Andy loves golf, books, and fine food—not necessarily in that order.
Books
The Doctors’ Riot of 1788: Body Snatching, Bloodletting, and Anatomy in America tells the story of a deadly riot in New York City started not by doctors, but by the public railing against doctors and anatomy students for stealing bodies from the predominantly White Trinity Church cemetery. The book examines the history of body snatching for anatomy study, early American medicine, and an ethical question still pertinent today: After all this time, why haven’t we found a way to ensure dignity after death?
McPhee has leapt into a hotbed of 18th- and 19th-century controversy in American history: the conflict between the advance of American medical education and the time-honored tradition of providing “a decent burial” for deceased loved ones. The Doctors’ Riot of 1788 is a cogent account of a populist rebellion against the evil perceived in that era’s medical and scientific elite, to be commended for its broad and painstaking research, balanced narrative, and for engaging the reader with every turn of the page.”
—Mark Frazier Lloyd, University Archivist Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
This author has a brilliant, straightforward way of laying out and explaining the history of anatomy, its laws across the UK and US and the individuals involved—be it physicians, students, or resurrectionists. It takes a systematic approach with a good deal of background knowledge, which helps weave the history and practices together into the final chapters.
—Hannah Wilkins, a Goodreads reviewer
Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town tells the true story of the worst air pollution disaster in US history. The book details how six fateful days in Donora led to the nation’s first clean air act in 1955, and how such catastrophes can lead to successful policy change. McPhee tells the very human story behind this ecological disaster, how wealthy industrialists built the mills to supply an ever-growing America, how the town’s residents—millworkers and their families—willfully ignored the danger of the mills’ emissions, and how the closing of the mills years later took its toll on the town. Amazon readers have awarded the book an average of 4.8 stars.
Read an excerpt.
“Skillfully highlighting the bravery of the men and women who aided the afflicted and prevented the calamity from claiming more lives, McPhee offers a retelling of real-life drama that’s both compelling and horrific from beginning to end.” — Booklist
“It was a wonderful surprise to discover such a compelling work of narrative nonfiction—in truly a well-told and thoughtfully rendered story, hewing close to Erik Larson in style while delivering the rigor of academia in its reportage.” — Tim Maddocks
“[McPhee] has done a remarkable job of creating personal narratives intermixed with historical context in such a way that is compelling, yet informative, for general and expert readers alike.” — Trenton Honda, Northeastern University
“I am grateful for the author’s ability to weave the personal stories of those affected with the more technical and factual components of how this tragedy unfolded and led to better protections for the air we breathe. Donora Death Fog is a great read and I highly recommend it.” — Beth Darcy
“The story of a tight-knit community that united to face an air pollution disaster, Donora Death Fog is an important contribution to environmental history. Written with insight and compassion, it helps us understand the social networks that can sustain organized responses in the desperate early hours of unforeseen tragedy.” — William Kovarik, Radford University