A manual for the future?

I am re-reading "How to Be a Victorian." It seems to be a manual for the future.

Read the section on workplace (non) regulation, sans unions, for instance. and..."Before antibiotics, and with the new crowding and population explosion brought on by the Industrial Revolution, cholera, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tuberculosis and typhoid were looming threats. And with no regulation of the advertising industry, manufacturers could claim pretty much anything. Which is how the ingredients in Tuberculozyne, which purported to cure tuberculosis, could be potassium bromide, glycerin, almond flavoring, water and caramel coloring...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/books/review/how-to-be-a-victorian-by-ruth-goodman.html?_r=0