Best Selling Books by Rosemary Stevens

The distinctive mixing and continuous remixing of public and private roles is a defining feature of health care in the United States. The Public-Private Health Care State explores the interweaving of public and private enterprise in health care in the United States as a basis for thinking about health care in terms of its history and its continuing evolution today. Historian and policy analyst Rosemary Stevens has selected and edited seventeen essays from both her published and unpublished work to illustrate continuing themes, such as: the flexible meanings of the terms public and private, and how useful their ambiguity has been and is; the role of ideology as ratifying rather than preordaining change; and the common behavior of public leaders and corporate entities in the face of fiscal opportunity. The topics--covering the period of 1870 through the twenty-first century--represent Stevens'' research interests in hospital history and policy, the medical profession, government policy, and paying for health care. The volume also considers her involvement with policy questions, which include health services research, health maintenance organizations, and physician workforce policy. Section I demonstrates the long history of state government involvement with private not-for-profit hospitals from the 1870s through the 1930s. Section II examines the federal role in health care from the 1920s through the 1970s, including the establishment of veterans'' hospitals and the implementation of Medicaid. Section III shows how shifting governmental roles require constantly changing organizing rhetoric, whether for inventing a federal role for health services research and HMOs, regionalization in the 1970s, or defining civil rights and equity as mobilizing vehicles in the 1980s. Section IV examines growing concerns from the 1970s through the present about the traditional public role of the largely private medical profession. Section V returns to the ambiguous public-priv

A look at what really happened in the U.S. Veterans'' Bureau Scandal in the 1920s. In the early 1920s, as the nation recovered from World War I, President Warren G. Harding founded the U.S. Veterans Bureau, now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs, to treat disabled veterans. He appointed his friend, decorated veteran Colonel Charles R. Forbes, as founding director. Forbes lasted only eighteen months in the position before stepping down under a cloud of suspicion. In 1926—after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by rigging government contracts—he was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary. Although he was known in his day as a drunken womanizer, and as a corrupt toady of a weak president, the question persists: was Forbes a criminal or a scapegoat? Historian Rosemary Stevens tells Forbes''s story anew, drawing on previously untapped records to reveal his role in America''s commitment to veterans. She explores how Forbes''s rise and fall in Washington illuminates Harding''s efforts to bring business efficiency to government. She also examines the scandal in the context of class, professionalism, ethics, and etiquette in a rapidly changing world. Most significantly, Stevens proposes a revisionist view of both Forbes and Harding: They did not defraud the government of billions and do not deserve the reputation they have carried for a hundred years. Packed with conniving friends, FBI agents, and rival politicians as well as gamblers, revelers, and wronged wives, A Time of Scandal will appeal to anyone interested in political gossip, presidential politics, the "Ohio Gang," and the 1920s.

Set in Regency England, this story finds Beau Brummell in the middle of a murder investigation involving a countess who has been poisoned, allegedly by her paid companion. The Duchess of York, who hired the girl, stands to lose her good name. So she calls in Brummell, who uncovers other suspects.

This reissue offers an opportunity to consider the state of the American health care system. The text chronicles the development of the medical profession and shows how increasing emphasis on specialization has influenced medical education and public policy. It details specialization''s effects on health care costs and on health care providers, as well as the implications of technology and the resulting ethical dilemmas, the issues of insurance, and many people''s limited access to care.

American hospitals are a unique combination of public and private institutions that are at once charities and businesses, social welfare institutions and icons of US science, wealth, and technical achievement. In Sickness and in Wealth helps us understand this huge and often contradictory “industry” and shows that throughout this century the voluntary not-for-profit hospitals have been profit-maximizing enterprises, even though they have viewed themselves as charities serving the community. Although our hospitals have provided the most advanced medical care for acutely sick and curable patients, they have been much less successful in meeting the needs of the chronically ill and the socially disadvantaged. That, Stevens concludes, is the next urgent task of social policy. “[A] fascinating, panoramic survey of the evolution of the American hospital system in the twentieth century... Stevens brilliantly views the hospital as a prism of the values and mores of society... She sees the stratification of the hospital population into private, semi-private, and charity patients as a manifestation of the social stratifications of American society... Stevens has written a profoundly important book. Together with The Care of Strangers (1987) by Charles Rosenberg, In Sickness and in Wealth provides a masterful overview of the development of the American hospital system. These two outstanding books complement each other neatly. The Care of Strangers examines the creation of the system from 1850 to the 1920s; In Sickness and in Wealth traces events once the system was in place through the present. Rosenberg’s book is an unusually well crafted piece of social and cultural history; the present book is written to a much greater degree from the standpoint of political science, and it also carries more implications for present-day policy issues. Ambitiously conceived, superbly executed, and rich in detail, interpretation, and insight, In Sickness and in Wealth is a major work of scholarship that will influence discussion of the health care system for years to come. It has all the makings of a classic.”― Reviews in American History “This book is beautifully written... and is must reading for anyone involved in the current debate on health policy. It will also make delightful reading for those who merely wish to view the shifting social and economic climate in modern America, as seen from the perspective of the hospital.” ― New England Journal of Medicine “[S]uperbly researched, and rendered in an engaging style that combines the policy analyst’s breadth with the historian’s fine sense of detail.” — New York Times “[A]n ambitious and impressive survey of a medical-care system that deserves to be called an industry.” — Los Angeles Times “The book is encyclopedic in its analysis as well as in its detail; it can be read as a fascinating history of twentieth-century medicine, as a powerful analysis of contemporary social policy, and as an exploration of American values.” — Isis “[A] masterful picture of the emergence of the hospital and its role in American society.” — Science

Before World War II, the great majority of practicing doctors in England and Wales were general practitioners. They performed their own surgery, and were accustomed to treating a wide variety of illnesses and symptoms. Specialists were few in number, tended to practice in large towns, and were often associated with major hospitals. But rapidly changing medical institutions and services in the twentieth century have compelled specialization even among more modest doctors and hospitals.

Widowed Lady Margery Fortescue has suffered through several wretched Christmases and intends for this one to be better. Then her cottage roof caves in. Forced to accept a house party invitation, she is mistaken for a maid at an inn on the way—by a decidedly handsome rogue, Lord Reckford. Who proceeds to show up at the holiday gathering, as unrepentant as ever. Regency Romance by Rosemary Stevens; originally published by Fawcett Crest

A brand-new book in the harrowing and heartwarming Supper Club Mystery series by New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams and Agatha Award–winning author Rosemary Stevens! Librarian James Henry and his supper club sleuths will take a trip down memory lane searching for clues that will help catch a killer . . . When the cast of the old Hearth and Home TV show gather for a twenty-fifth reunion at a local bed-and-breakfast where the show was filmed, the townsfolk are thrilled to meet the actors and relive their memories of a simpler time. Their nostalgic mood is broken, though, by an ambitious real estate developer who has also come to Quincy’s Gap with an eye toward turning the quiet town into the South’s hottest new tourist destination. Tensions are boiling over, and when the developer gets a little too sauced one night at the B&B and turns up dead the next morning, James and the supper club will have to put aside their distaste for the victim to help nab the culprit. It looks like an open-and-shut case, but James and his friends are convinced the main suspect is innocent and promise to help get her out of hot water. Dividing their time between the investigation and the reunion festivities, they’re shocked to discover that members of the cast are guarding some very unsavory secrets. With time running out before the actors leave town and the trail of clues goes stale, the supper club will have to turn up the heat on a suspicious character before the killer serves up another murder. Includes mouthwatering recipes! Praise for the Supper Club Mystery Series: “Heavy on fun, light on gore, this savory mystery comes complete with yummy recipes.” ―Publishers Weekly “Foodies will love the recipes and fans the new adventures of the five friends.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Earl of Ravenswood had decided never to marry an intelligent woman like his stepmother. She had used her cleverness to bankrupt Raven’s Hall. His lordship’s determination ruled out beautiful and wise Miss Daphne Kendall. Or would two meddling servants and one determined cat change his mind? Book Three of the Cats of Mayfair. Regency Romance by Rosemary Stevens; originally published by Fawcett Crest

"Beau Brummell continues to charm" ("Publishers Weekly") in the fourth book in this mystery series set in Regency, England.

Proper Miss Verity Pymbroke would never rent out her townhouse to Lord Carrisworth, a rake known for his wild parties and one who keeps twins as his mistresses! But she doesn’t count on the schemes of two matchmaking neighbors and a determined cat in this lighthearted romance. Book Two of the Cats of Mayfair. Regency Romance by Rosemary Stevens; originally published by Fawcett Crest

"After receiving a series of death threats by post, the Prince of Wales feels that some time spent away from London will calm his frazzled nerves. So he escapes to Brighton where Beau Brummell joins him as a guest. With guards posted at every door, the atmosphere is tense especially under the scrutiny of Sir Simon. Hired by the Prince as his personal "food-taster," the odious baronet is a poor substitute for the polite company of London society that Beau is used to."--Jacket.

Giles Vayne, Duke of Winterton is reminded daily by his talking parrot to find a suitable bride. Henrietta Lanford, a Squire’s daughter, is not suitable. But then Giles commits a crime of manners that can ruin Henrietta before her first ball. Is it the duke’s sense of duty or his growing passion that compels him to protect her? First in the Cats of Mayfair series. Regency Romance by Rosemary Stevens; originally published by Fawcett Crest