History of medicine Books

Book SynopsisWith wit, wisdom, and a sharp scalpel, Jack Hartnell dissects the medieval body and offers a remedy to our preconceptions.Trade Review"A thick, spicy plum pudding of a book." -- Barbara Newman - London Review of Books"Jack Hartnell tells [an] extraordinary story in his wonderfully rich study of the Middle Ages…His idea of approaching the medieval worldview through the body is inspired…This beautifully illustrated book succeeds brilliantly in bringing this much maligned period to life…A triumph of scholarship." -- PD Smith - Guardian"A dazzling tour through physiognomy and across time, medieval bodies are a route into understanding a richly imaginative and curious age…[C]apacious and entertaining…[M]arvellously detailed…Medieval Bodies lets its readers see through medieval eyes. Guided by Hartnell’s expertise, we gaze upon a long-ago world." -- Rachel Moss - Times Higher Education"One of the achievements of this splendid book is to make our world view seem more narrow and fragmented than that of the extensive period we place somewhere between the Dark Ages and the Renaissance…[A]t every point you’ll encounter wit, learning and riveting stories. A wonderful read." -- Melanie McDonagh - Evening Standard"An ambitiously interdisciplinary study…[E]xtravagantly illustrated…[F]ull of lively information." -- G. R. Evans, - Church Times"[Medieval Bodies will] make you smile and squirm in equal measure…This is a book about the body, but in some ways it is an exploration of the recesses of the medieval mind" -- Mary Wellesley - Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisThe gripping story of a chemical weapons catastrophe, the cover-up, and how one American Army doctor’s discovery led to the development of the first drug to combat cancer, known today as chemotherapy.Trade Review"In a history that reads like a novel, Conant connects the 1943 bombing by the Nazis of an American ship containing banned mustard gas to the development of chemotherapy as a cancer treatment." -- An Editors’ Choice of the New York Times Book Review"[A] compelling narrative.… fascinating." -- Laura Landro - Wall Street Journal"Engrossing.… Convey[s] a fast-paced medical detective story that demonstrates how careful scientific observation can yield unexpected benefits and serves as a reminder of the difficult choices made by governments to balance public health and secrecy in matters of security." -- Peter Reczek - Science"With a keen understanding of medical science, cancer, and the history of World War II, as well as an amazing range of sources, Conant dramatically illuminates a dark moment in history that eventually led to the medical breakthrough of chemotherapy." -- National Book Review"Few writers are better at finding new paths through the well-worn territory of World War II than historian Jennet Conant.... Conant delights in the devilish details, the hidden, overlooked, and deeply personal stories that constitute our collective historical record. In her deft and experienced hands, readers will discover great delight as well." -- Jessica Lahey - Air Mail"The Great Secret is a ripping good yarn, jam-packed with marvelous prose, wonderful historical characters, and superb research on a little-known but critical chapter in the history of medicine and the Second World War. I could not put this book down until I reached the final page." -- Howard Markel, MD, PhD, director of the Center for the History of Medicine, University of Michigan"With a scintillating detective-tale plot rendered with an accomplished novelist’s flair, Jennet Conant peels back the layers of deception employed by Allied authorities—including Winston Churchill—to conceal the fact that many of those who died at the Bari disaster in December 1943 perished from unprecedented exposure to mustard gas and immersion in ship fuel oil. This fast-paced narrative alone would make The Great Secret a landmark work, but Conant surpasses this with the even more astonishing chronicle of how insights into the Bari deaths ultimately galvanized the creation of the whole field of cancer chemotherapy. This is a heartbreaking and inspiring tale of tragedy leading to triumph." -- Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, July 1937–May 1942"In her masterly The Great Secret, Jennet Conant has given us at once a crucial World War II story and a medical mystery as unsettling as it is gripping. As Conant’s hero (that’s not too strong a word), a US Army medical officer named Stewart Alexander, starts to unlock the secret that has caused scores of unnecessary deaths, he comes to understand the immense consequences of these now all-but-forgotten events, and sets in motion studies that&mdsah;as Ms. Conant explains with wonderfully lucid and vigorous authority—have shaped the medical landscape we inhabit today." -- Richard Snow, author of A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Battle of World War II"Jennet Conant has uncovered a humdinger of a tale, one that is equal parts war story, conspiracy thriller and medical mystery. More than anything, The Great Secret shows how the dogged efforts of a handful of scientists were able to turn a wartime tragedy and coverup into one of society’s greatest gifts. This is a rare jewel of a story that readers will love and fellow historians will covet." -- James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Target Tokyo and Rampage"Jennet Conant unravels the remarkable story of a World War II chemical weapons disaster which inspired one of the twentieth century’s greatest breakthroughs in medicine with verve and precision. The Great Secret reads like a wartime adventure and political thriller combined." -- Wendy Moore, author of No Man’s Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I

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Book SynopsisIncredibly timely for the 75th Anniversary of the NHS in 2023, this book provides a fascinating insight into the decades of work which went on before our modern NHS was founded in 1948.

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Book SynopsisThis is a well-researched and well-written book examining the diagnosis and treatment of King George III's 'insanity'.

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Book SynopsisIn late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France, a number of groups turned to the wondrous and occult as a means of understanding and explaining the world. This title examines these varied efforts through the phenomena witnessed at seances.Trade ReviewInteresting, well-researched book. Choice Investigating the Supernatural is the product of a great many years of study and makes a solid contribution to a growing field. It will be of interest to scholars in a variety of areas, ranging from French social and religious history to the history of science. -- David Allen Harvey H-France A welcome addition to the growing literature on spiritism, occultism and physical research in modern France. -- Heather Wolffram French HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction1. From Turning Tables to Spiritism2. Occult Wisdoms, Astral Bodies, and Human Fluids3. Pathologies of the Supernatural4. Witnessing Psychical Phenomena5. The Rise and Fall of MetapsychicsConclusionAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographic EssayIndex

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Book SynopsisNovember's thoroughly researched and lively study makes clear for readers the motives behind computerizing the study of life and how that technology profoundly affects biomedical research today.Trade ReviewComputers changed research in the life sciences in the 1950s and 1960s. Historian Joseph November engagingly relates how... November's style is convincing and compelling. -- Paula Stephan Nature A fine pick for medical, science and computer collections alike. Midwest Book Review Yes, it's about computers, but very readable. Reference and Research Book News A well-written, engaging piece of historical scholarship... One cannot help but appreciate November's talent at synthesizing and distilling a vast array of highly technical subject matter, making it accessible to not only polymaths, but also any intelligent, dedicated reader. -- Keith Mages Watermark An interesting account of information technology's grand entry into biomedicine in the US and its impact on advances in numerous life science disciplines. Choice In this finely drawn, much-needed study, November shows how a few visionary physicians, life scientists, and computer specialists first created common cause and transformed their respective fields... Conveying that mutual transformation makes Biomedical Computing a significant, timely contribution to both the history of computing and the history of biomedicine. -- Cyrus Mody Journal of American History ... This book constitutes an obligatory read for historians interested in twentieth-century science and technology; and is an important reference for philosophers and social scientists investigating contemporary developments in biomedicine. -- Sabina Leonelli Social History of Medicine This book will be essential reading for historians of both biomedicine and computing. November has done these fields a great service by mapping a complex but fundamental set of technical and institutional relations that have given momentum to our contemporary digitized lives. -- Joanna Radin IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Biomedical Computing offers a clear path into an otherwise uncharted territory of the history of computing in biomedicine. Those interested in the history of medical technology, biology, or computing will appreciate the insights of this book. -- Robin Wolfe Scheffler Technology and Culture Rich local detail... Biomedical Computing offers an essential framework for marrying the bigger picture with case-by-case local analysis. British Journal for the History of ScienceTable of ContentsAcknowlegmentsAbbreviations, Acronyms, and InitialismsIntroduction1. Putting Molecular Biology and Medical Diagnosis into Metal Brains: Operations Research and the Origins of Biomedical Computing2. Building Tomorrow's Biomedicine: The National Institutes of Health's Early Mission to Computerize Biology and Medicine3. The LINC Revolution: The Forgotten Biomedical Origins of Personal Computing4. A New Way of Life: Computing in the Lab, in the Clinic, and at the Foundation5. Martians, Experts, and Universitas: Biomedical Computing at Stanford University, 1960–1966ConclusionNotesEssay on SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisLavishly illustrated with more than four hundred photographs, most in color, Leading the Way provides all those interested in the story of Johns Hopkins Medicine-even just the advances in medicine itself over the past twenty years-a lively and riveting account of how Hopkins remains in the forefront of medical education, research, and patient care.Trade ReviewAn extremely interesting read, even if you're not medical school bound. Kick Ass Book Reviews An accurate, well-designed book of which anyone in the Hopkins Medicine family should be proud. Choice An admirable and comprehensive account of the evolution of one of the most distinguished academic medical centers in the world. -- Dorothy Porter JAMA An impressive achievement. -- Nano Khilnani Biz India Magazine

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Book SynopsisThe collections she has selected include essays on general medical topics addressed to colleagues or disciples, some advice for individual patients (usually written at the request of the patient's doctor), and a strong dose of controversy.Trade ReviewSiraisi deftly guides the reader with engaging and descriptive prose toward her modest theses... It is a welcome introduction to the world of medical epistles in the Renaissance. -- Joel A. Klein Early Science and Medicine This book goes a step further in the current critical reassessment of the minor genres of early modern medical literature, traditionally viewed as secondary sources. Mastering Renaissance history and historiography, Siraisi shows how they can be used to access the world of sixteenth-century medical practitioners avoiding artificial distinctions between the social and intellectual motives underpinning their multifold activities. -- Maria Pia Donato American Historical Review These studies will be useful to anyone exploring the development of espistolae midicinales. Siraisi also offers valuable evidence of the establishment of an eraly medical Republic of Letters. -- Niall Hodson Centaurus Communities of Learned Experience puts the theme of networks center stage, making useful connections to current research on communities of knowledge and republics of letters both humanistic and scientific even as it contributes more particularly to the history of medicine... In 87 pages, [Siraisi] offers a distillation of the encyclopedic learning, rigorously forensic analysis, elegant argumentation, and wry humor that are the hallmarks of her career... This book is an expert introduction to the world of early modern medical inquiry... For its wealth of information and important call for more attention to medical epistles, Communities of Learned Experience takes a more than worthy place in Siraisi's oeuvre and should occupy an important space in the history of science section of early modernist's collections. -- Sarah Gwenyth Ross Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science [Communities of Learned Experience] reflects Siraisi's routinely thorough research and engaging prose, and it would be difficult to argue that the book does not accomplish what it sets out to do. -- Fred Gibbs British Journal for the History of Science What trajectory can be charted through physicians' letters? Siraisi's elegant and economical book has give her readers a useful and pleasurable roadmap that helps to explain how learned physicians indeed created a world of their own making in print during the age of Vesalius. -- Paul Findlen Bulletin of the History of Medicine Siraisi's work on epistolary medicine will be of interest not only to those studying Renaissance medicine, but will also provide a useful backdrop to those studying the topic in the early modern period. It will appeal to historians of the Republic of Letters and the humanist movement who may not have given consideration to the correspondence of physicians of the period. -- Robert Weston ParergonTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Contexts and Communication2. The Court Physician Johann Lange and His Epistolae Medicinales3. The Medical Networks of Orazio AugenioConclusionNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisBased on extensive reviews of medical literature and archives, this historical perspective on medical decision making and risk highlights personal, professional, and community outcomes.Trade ReviewOffers a historical perspective on medical decision making in the case of heart disease. The Chronicle Review For anyone who has had a heart attack or whose family member has had one, this book is definitely worth reading. -- Stephen Goddard History Wire - Where the Past Comes Alive Any health collection strong in cardiac care will find this a winning presentation perfect for general health or specialty collections alike. Midwest Book Review The light Jones shines on the interventional cardiovascular enterprise illuminates numerous, sometimes fatal and always costly flaws that every patient and society at large ignores at great peril. -- Nortin M. Hadler Scientists' Bookshelf A surprising and sobering book. David S. Jones combines rigorous research with a clear narrative style to produce a very persuasive historical analysis. I heartily recommend that physicians read Broken Hearts to benefit from a dose of detective work, a dose of insight, and a good dose of humility. -- Jack Coulehan, MD Pharos Jones does a very good job of outlining how difficult it is to understand all the workings of the human body, what is involved in medical research, and how that research is applied to human subjects through the lens of one medical specialty. -- Katherine Burger Johnson Watermark All in all, Jones presents a different and refreshing take on the challenges before us. He provides more questions than answers, but this is all to the good. Unless we pose the proper questions we cannot ever hope to obtain the right answers. -- Allen B. Weisse Bulletin of the History of Medicine Wide-ranging, full of interesting and telling historical details, steadily paced yet thorough in its making sense of complex medicine, Broken Hearts exposes cardiac care as neither mundane nor settled. -- Janet K. Shim Sociology of Health and Illness Jones asks us to embrace the complexity of medical decision-making, to recognize medical research gains and gaps, and to acknowledge the social values and priorities that shape our present scenario. Difficult decisions in medicine remain, but perhaps Jones's book will contribute to more judicious ones. -- Shelley Mckellar Technology and Culture For the past half century, patients have been advised to undergo valve replacement, angioplasty, or coronary artery bypass graft procedures to prevent or ameliorate cardiac pathologies. But how good are these procedures? How certain are the surgeons or physicians who recommend them that they will work? How do they know? Giving some answers to these questions and showing how the criteria for making medical decisions change over time are the themes of Broken Hearts. Choice Jones's larger point is a meditation on how we understand and misunderstand medical knowledge. -- Sarah Dine Health Affairs This book will appeal to a wide audience interested in the history of coronary artery disease, its treatment options, and medical decision-making. For those wanting more, there is an extensive bibliography. In closing, Jones asks us to embrace the complexity of medical decision-making, to recognize medical research gains and gaps, and to acknowledge the social values and priorities that shape our present scenario. Difficult decisions in medicine remain, but perhaps Jones's book will contribute to more judicious ones. -- Shelley McKellar Technology and Culture A fascinating and insightful history of the interplay between research on the causes of coronary artery disease and the development and assessment of therapeutic-especially surgical-approaches to cardiac care... There is much to recommend in Broken Hearts. It is accessible, it will appeal to a wide range of readers, and it offers a useful overview of the complex issues surrounding cardiac care at a time with health-care policy, both in the United States and globally, is fiercely debated and rapidly changing. -- A.R. Ruis Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences An excellent resource... The information gleaned from the book will aid the patient in understanding his or her disease and will assist one in decision-making. -- Robin Wulffson Examiner.com Jones's book is a sophisticated history of heart attacks and some of the most spectacular medical interventions of the twentieth century. It is meticulously researched and thoughtful, and Jones pays equal attention to technical details, social contexts and economic implications. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in the uncertainties of modern medicine: uncertainties associated with understanding the cause of illness and, perhaps more importantly, the success of treatment. -- Carsten Timmermann Social History of Medicine Broken Hearts is a captivating study of the history of cardiology. By moving away from the long-standing tendency to frame the history of cardiology as a progress-narrative, this book makes a great addition to the emerging body of literature that adopts a critical stance towards cardiac care... SomatosphereTable of ContentsList of FiguresPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: An Embarrassment of RichesPart I: Theory and TherapyChapter 1. The Mysteries of Heart AttacksChapter 2. The Case for Plaque RuptureChapter 3. The Case against Plaque RuptureChapter 4. Learning by DoingChapter 5. The Plaque Rupture ConsensusChapter 6. Rupture TherapeuticsChapter 7. Therapeutic RupturesChapter 8. Fear and UnpredictabilityPart II: ComplicationsChapter 9. Surgical Ambition and FearChapter 10. Suffering CerebrumsChapter 11. Deliriogenic PersonalitiesChapter 12. The Case of the Missing ComplicationsChapter 13. Selective InattentionChapter 14. The Cerebral Complications of Coronary Artery Bypass SurgeryChapter 15. A Taxonomy of InattentionChapter 16. Competition's ComplicationsConclusion: Puzzles and ProspectsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book seeks to explain why, among the innumerable problems faced by societies, some problems in some places become viewed as critical public issues that shape health policy.Trade ReviewThis book is brave and insightful and succeeds in raising the possibility that cultural histories of health must acknowledge the distinct vocabulary and sociocultural definitions that are inherent to specific disease states. It is full of potential leads and insights, reference and analysis that will be consulted time and time again. -- Paul Weindling Science Weisz shows beautifully that concern with chronic diseases is hardly new. -- Bill Bynum Lancet This is a valuable resource for all academic professionals in the health field, especially those in public policy. Choice This is a valuable study. It is the first long overview of the emergence of one of the most significant health policy issues in modern times. Chronic Illness As this book shows, chronic disease has long been neglected, by both health care systems and historians. Weisz took up the challenge of writing the history of a diffuse and undramatic concept, and has done it well. -- David Jones Global Public Health The recent globalisation of 'chronic disease' serves to demonstrate the importance of Weisz's book not just for historians of medicine, but for policy makers and practitioners too. By highlighting the constructed nature of 'chronic disease' Weisz draws attention to the political foundations of a category too often taken for granted. Crisply written, clearly structure, and presenting a wealth of detail without ever overwhelming, this is sure to become a classic text. -- Alex Mold Social History of Medicine The book is scholarly, builds on the work of prominent thinkers in the field such as Daniel Fox, and provides new insights on the history of American health care. Gesnerus Weisz has produced an intriguing and original argument that will be of great interest to historians of health care and health care policy, in both national and international contexts. IsisTable of ContentsPrefaceList of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I: Chronic Disease in the United States1. "National Vitality" and Physical Examination2. Expanding Public Health3. Almshouses, Hospitals, and the Sick Poor4. New Deal Politics and the National Health Survey5. Mobilizing against Chronic Illness at Midcentury6. Long-Term Care7. Public Health and PreventionPart II: Chronic Disease in the United Kingdom and France8. Health, Wealth, and the State9. Alternative Paths in the United Kingdom10. Maladies chroniques in FranceEpilogueNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisBroad in scope and sweep, Hamlin's study is a reflection of how the meanings of diseases continue to shift, affecting not only the identities we create but often our ability to survive.Trade ReviewHamlin expounds, with grace, wit and learning, the thinking of many of the major figures of medicine... Hamlin trawls medicine's history with great effect, uncovering a number of forgotten figures who had their own ideas about the causes, consequences and treatment of fever. -- W.F. Bynum Times Literary Supplement A senior historian of disease and public health, Hamlin displays considerable breadth and depth in his knowledge of medical theory and practice from different eras... What makes the book most impressive and compelling is Hamlin's ability to integrate the history of medicine and science with social and cultural history. PsycCRITIQUESTable of ContentsForeword, by Charles E. RosenbergAcknowledgments1. More Than HOTPart I: The Fevers of Classical Medicines2. Words3. BooksPart II: Fever as Social4. Communities5. SelvesPart III: Fever Becomes Modern6. Facts7. Naming the Wild8. Numbers and NursesPart IV: Fever, Modern and Poer-Modern9. Machines, Mothers, Sex, and ZombiesNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisConnecting laboratory research, clinical medicine, social theory, and lived experience, Intolerant Bodies reveals how doctors and patients have come to terms, often reluctantly, with this novel and puzzling mechanism of disease causation.Trade ReviewAnderson and Mackay's engaging survey is a studious examination of autoimmune diseases, and a humble admission that their cures remain stubbornly elusive. Publishers Weekly This is a fascinating read... A solid choice for academic science and health sciences collections. Library Journal ... This book packs in serious scholarship in both science and its history, adding hefty amounts of philosophy for good measure. Historical Records of Australian Science A magisterial, historically rich biography of autoimmunity... Anderson and Mackay reveal an expert understanding of how to use 'lived experience' to bring a biography of disease to life. Personal accounts demonstrate how, as theories about the causes of inexplicable chronic debilitating diseases abounded, the variety of treatments devised to alleviate or 'cure' them expanded. -- Tilli Tansey Nature Succinct, well-written, and informed, Intolerant Bodies narrates the history of immunology through the lens of autoimmune disease... the story told here extends far beyond the topic of "attack against self" to provide perhaps the best overview of immunity (normal and pathological) available for the general reader. Metascience Few topics in contemporary science hold the wide interest commanded by immunology, so this graceful and timely account of the development of this science is a welcomed addition to the literature. Intolerant Bodies is beautifully written-an informed, informative, and engaging assessment of the history of autoimmunity. But the small book is far more than the short history it humbly claims to be; for Anderson and Mackay take on a complex subject many of us have struggled to summarize with more words than fewer. -- A. David Napier Somatosphere Anderson and MacKay reward any readers who have dedicated decades to researching a cure for type 1 diabetes, and other equally elusive autoimmune diseases, by illustrating just how far into other scholarly realms the concepts of autoimmunity have reached. -- Sarah Linklater The Lancet Highly recommended for any collection strong in health history. California Bookwatch Well researched, highly readable history of autoimmune disease... The reader will journey in company with the authors on their fascinating tour of autoimmune history, facts, and observations. And what a journey indeed! In Focus Within a limited amount of pages, it tells the complicated but intriguing development of immunology and autoimmunity in a clear and consistent narrative that constantly crosses the boundaries between laboratories, hospitals, and patients' lives. East Asian Science, Technology and Society The book's concision, its fluid prose, its courageous (and largely successful) attempt to bring four chronic diseases into a coherent historical relationship, and its bold effort to come at immunology's history from the margins all conspire to make Intolerant Bodies a valuable and unique contribution to the field. Social History of Medicine [Anderson and Mackay's] work is refreshingly different from some recent best-selling histories of medicine written by scientists and clinicians, and the authors responsibly and soberly juxtapose the exciting science with the problematic clinical reality. Bulletin of the History of Medicine With clarity, depth, and subtle provocation, Intolerant Bodies covers significant historical, biomedical, and philosophical ground to investigate and explain the aetiological paradox of autoimmune disease...discussions at biomedical science conferences, immunology seminars, and research colloquia will be all the richer if this book is widely circulated. Health and HistoryTable of ContentsForeword, by Charles E. RosenbergIntroduction: Thinking Autoimmunity1. Physiology with Obstacles2. Immunological Thought Styles3. A Sense of Unlimited Possibilities4. The Science of Self5. Doing Biographical Work6. Reframing SelfAfterword: Becoming Autoimmune, or Being NotAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisIt helps policy makers understand how best to develop and implement effective public health strategies around the United States.Trade ReviewBerg's extensive research, keen analysis, and clear exposition, as well as his unique perspective as a political scientist, make this an invaluable resource for any policymaker, politician, health-care provider, or concerned citizen. Library Journal Berg's book is important and useful--it shows what can be achieved in a complex, modern democracy, often against the odds. -- William Hatchett Environmental Health News Covers a wide range of important political perspectives--from neoliberal to libertarian--that influence public health policy... An enjoyable read, this volume will be valuable to those interested in public health, bioethics, and the role of government in health care. ChoiceTable of ContentsAcknowledgments1. Introduction2. Lead Poisoning in Children3. Managing Asthma4. Living with HIV/AIDS5. Helping a City Lose Weight6. The First Appearance of West Nile Virus7. ConclusionReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive study of both patients and healers in the High Roman Empire.Patients and Healers in the High Roman Empire offers a fascinating holistic look at the practice of ancient Roman medicine. Ido Irsaelowich presents three richly detailed case studiesone focusing on the home and reproduction; another on the army; the last on medical tourismfrom the point of view of those on both sides of the patient-healer divide. He explains in depth how people in the classical world became aware of their ailments, what they believed caused particular illnesses, and why they turned to certain healersroot cutters, gymnastic trainers, dream interpreters, pharmacologists, and priestsor sought medical care in specific places such as temples, bath houses, and city centers. The book brings to life the complex behavior and social status of all the actors involved in the medical marketplace. It also sheds new light on classical theories about sickness, the measures RomanTrade ReviewPatients and Healers is a substantial piece of scholarship, worthy of careful study for anyone interested the subject. Its focus on the perceptions and motives of the patient with emphasis on inscriptions and ex-voto dedications distinguishes this book from other general studies on health care under the Empire. Bryn Mawr Classical Review A comprehensive study of the medical market and the interactions between patients and healers in the Roman Empire. Choice Israelowich's book best succeeds in clearly and methodically drawing out the structure of a medical world in which many of the basic tenets of medicine were still being debated, and in including in his discussion all of the healing institutions that functioned together in the Roman world, be they religious, traditional, or philosophical. New England Classical JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Identity of Physicians during the High Roman EmpireThe Establishment of Medicine as a Profession in RomeThe Nature of the Medical Market Place during the High Roman EmpireThe Case of PsasnisConclusion2. Patients' Understanding of Health and IllnessPatients and Their HealersPhysicians and Temple MedicineAelius AristidesConclusion3. The Domus and ReproductionChildbirthPhysicians and MidwivesMothers' ExperiencesConclusion4. Health Care in the Roman ArmyTheoretical BackgroundThe Establishment of the Roman Imperial Medical CorpsThe Responsibilities of the Army Physician and of the Medical CorpsMilitary Physicians and Local PopulationsConclusion5. Medical Tourism during the High Roman EmpireTemplesWaterCitiesConclusionConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHealth and Humanity is a comprehensive account of the ways that JHSPH has influenced the practice, pedagogy, and especially our very understanding of public health on both global and local scales.Trade Review... the reader is guided through the history by a chronological organization of chapters according to either unique challenges across different eras or to responses to outside influences (some of which were funding-driven) and by summaries at the end of each chapter that assist in providing overviews of the recently described events. American Journal of EpidemiologyTable of ContentsPrefaceList of AbbreviationsPrologue Chapter 1. The Southern Roots of Public Health at Johns HopkinsChapter 2. School at WarChapter 3. Postwar Public Health ScienceChapter 4. The School and the CityChapter 5. Rethinking the Public Health CurriculumChapter 6. The Postwar Geopolitics of American Public HealthChapter 7. Missionaries and MercenariesChapter 8. The Social Sciences, Urban Health, and the Great SocietyChapter 9. Surviving the SeventiesChapter 10. The Environmental Revolution in Public HealthChapter 11. Chronic Disease EpidemiologyChapter 12. Federal Funding and Its DiscontentsChapter 13. Days of Reckoning and RenewalAppendix A. JHSPH Leadership and BudgetsAppendix B. Publications from Research on the Eastern Health District of BaltimoreNotesIndexIllustrations follow page 228

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Book SynopsisAs Fee demonstrates, not simply in its formation but throughout its history the School of Hygiene served as a crucible for the forces shaping the public health profession as a whole.Trade ReviewInstitutional histories are often boring [but] Elizabeth Fee's book is neither tedious nor merely fashioned for in-house consumption. In fact, developments at the Hopkins School of Hygiene are merely the platform from which the author launches into a broad investigation of early twentieth-century public health ideology in America. Journal of the American Medical AssociationTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction1. Toward a New Profession of Public Health2. Competition for the First School of Hygiene and Public Health3. Working It Out4. Creating New Disciplines, I5. Creating New Disciplines, II6. Surviving the Thirties7. The Community as Public Health Laboratory8. Extending the Hopkins ModelNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisDrawing readers into a critical debate about the level of responsibility America bears for wounded service members, Burdens of War is a unique and moving case study.Trade ReviewScholars, health-care providers, policy makers, and general audiences should be highly interested in the book.—Armed Forces & SocietyThis book is thoughtful, well researched, and timely. It is little wonder Adler earned the Bancroft Award for the dissertation version. Burdens of War will long be an invaluable resource, particularly for those studying the role of the interwar years in creating modern America.—Journal of Military HistoryAdler's book deals more with the beginnings of veterans' health care than its current state and will appeal to those with a historical interest in the program. The criticisms of today, she notes, are not so different from those voiced a hundred years ago.—Health AffairsAdler has produced a worthwhile work, one that helps us understand how America built its own National Health Service but for only one class of patients.—H-DiploThis is a most welcoming contribution on the history of a U.S. service... The book expands the debate...—Alain Touwaide, Doody's Reviews[A] highly detailed and well-crafted account of the political dimension behind health care.—Bobby A. Wintermute, Business History ReviewAdler's Burdens of War is a must-read for specialists and nonspecialists alike, and is one of the most important books on veteran policy of the twenty-first century—Evan Sullivan, H-Net ReviewsTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations Used in the TextIntroduction1. An Extra-Hazardous Occupation2. A Stupendous Task3. War Is Hell but after Is "Heller"4. The Debt We Owe Them5. Administrative Geometry6. I Never Did Feel Well Again7. State MedicineConclusionNotesEssay on SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive portrait of the osteopathic medical profession. Overcoming suspicion, ridicule, and outright opposition from the American Medical Association, the osteopathic medical profession today serves the health needs of more than thirty million Americans. Osteopathic medicine is now the fastest-growing segment of the US physician and surgeon population. In The DOs, historian Norman Gevitz chronicles the development of this controversial medical movement from its nineteenth-century origins in the American Midwest to the present day. He describes the philosophy and practice of osteopathy, as well as the impact of osteopathic medicine on health care. In print continuously since 1982, The DOs has now been thoroughly updated and expanded. From the theories underlying the use of spinal manipulation developed by osteopathy's founder, Andrew Taylor Still, Gevitz traces the movement's early success, despite attacks from the orthodox medical community. He also recounts the efforts of Table of ContentsPrefaceChapter 1. Andrew Taylor StillChapter 2. The Missouri MeccaChapter 3. In the FieldChapter 4. Structure & FunctionChapter 5. Expanding the ScopeChapter 6. The Push for Higher StandardsChapter 7. A Question of IdentityChapter 8. The California MergerChapter 9. Reaffirmation & ExpansionChapter 10. In a Sea of ChangeChapter 11. The Challenge of DistinctivenessNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisA raucous history of medicine's more bizarre attempts to explain and preserve the human body. Prepare to feel queasy.

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Book SynopsisHealthcare history is more than leeches and drilling holes in skulls. It is stories of scientific failures and triumphs. Exploring American Healthcare History through 50 Historic Treasures presents a visual and narrative history of health and medicine in the United States, tracing paradigm shifts such as the introduction of anesthesia, the adoption of germ theory, and advances in public health. The book provides windows into ordinary people’s experiences with different schools of thought about treatment, from patent medicines and faith healing to hospital-based clinical trials. Exploring American Healthcare History showcases little-known objects that illustrate the complexities of our relationship with health, like a set of teeth from a small town in Arkansas where the link between fluoride and dental health was first discovered. It also highlights famous moments in medicine, such as the discovery of penicillin, and puts them into social and cultural context. Exploring American Healthcare History through 50 Historic Treasures will discuss concepts that are key to history curricula and to using history as a lens to understand society. The concepts include healthcare’s intersection with race, law, and changing cultural attitudes in a society shaped by science, religion, and economic forces. The choice of “healthcare” as the focus reflects the fact that the book encompasses conventional medicine, surgery, nursing, alternative medicines, and public health. The book discusses some areas of healthcare history in which practitioners were led by bias or greed rather than evidence. Some patent medicines, for example, lived up to their reputation as get-rich-quick schemes for their inventors. A few of the historic artifacts in the book, such as eugenics medals awarded to families with “good” genes, are treasures in the sense that they are a vital connection to shameful episodes in our past. The book explores artifacts and historic sites as individual things or places with their own stories, and as objects and sites representative of larger trends.This full-color book with over 50 photographs of artifacts like a beer advertised as harnessing the health-giving power of the sun show how the advancing science of health touched people’s everyday lives as well as their doctor visits. Patent medicines and machines highlight ways that people avoided or reacted to mainstream medicine, like faith healing, commercial nostrums, and alternative medicine. Thermometers and mold-culturing pans provide a tour of developments such as professional nursing and the “miracle drug” penicillin, while offering insight into epidemics from tuberculosis, plague, and the 1918 flu to HIV and opioid misuse. Historical caregivers featured include Pedro Jaramillo, a Mexican-American curandero, Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte, a trailblazing Omaha medical doctor, and Mattie Donnell Hicks, a Black nurse who served with both segregated and integrated units in the Army Corps of Nurses. This book describes the days when surgeons worked on patients without anesthesia and wiped their scalpels on their coats, and the day that EMTs raced to provide help when the Twin Towers were attacked in 2001, providing insight relevant to today’s problems and colorful anecdotes along the way.

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Book SynopsisFor hundreds of years men have fought and died to expand and protect the United States relying on martial skill and patriotism. Various powerful enemies, from the British to the Nazis, and legendary individuals including Tecumseh and Robert E. Lee have all fallen before the arms of the American soldier. Yet the deadliest enemy faced by the nation, one which killed more soldiers than all of its foes combined, has been both unrecognized and unseen. The war waged by the United States against disease, and by disease against the United States, has impacted the country more than any other conflict and continues to present a terrible threat to this day. Illness has been more than just a historical cause of casualties for the American military, in numerous wars it has helped to decide battles, drive campaigns, and determine strategy. In fact the Patriots owed pestilence as much for their victory in the Revolution as they did their own force of arms. Likewise disease helped to prevent the conquest of Canada in 1812, drove strategy in the Mexican War, handicapped Lee’s 1862 advance, and helped lead to World War II. Disease also provided an edge in the wars against Native Americans, yet just as soon turned on the US when unacclimated US troops were dispatched to the southern Pacific. This book not only traces the path of disease in American military history but also recounts numerous small episodes and interesting anecdotes related to the history of illness. Overall it presents a compelling story, one that has been overlooked and underappreciated. Yellow fever, malaria, tuberculosis, glanders, bubonic plague, smallpox, and numerous other bacteria and viruses all conspired to defeat America, and are enemies that need to be recognized.Trade ReviewAlthough the topic of disease and its influence on history has been dealt with before, this is a very good, entertaining, and thoughtful work. * Navy News *...this is a very good, entertaining and thoughtful work. * NYMAS *

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Book SynopsisChanglin Zhang provides a scientific basis for the success behind alternative therapies such as acupuncture, qigong, Ayurveda, and other traditional therapies in an illuminating discussion that explains the efficacy of these approaches in treating a number of chronic conditions. Underlining how public perception of acupuncture has shifted over the last few decades from one of skepticism to one of acceptance, he explores the progression of acupuncture research from its unsuccessful beginnings to the ultimate discovery of a scientific basis for therapies centered on the subtle coherence patterns of interacting electromagnetic waves and fields. He explains the dissipative structure of electromagnetic waves that constitutes our electromagnetic body and describes how changes in our mood, lifestyle, and environment affect it. Invisible Rainbow explains these developments within the context of science''s parallel development from its nineteenth-century focus on materialism, reductionism, and closed systems to its realization of the mass-energy equivalence, electromagnetic field, and its study of open complex systems. Discussing differences in Eastern and Western thought traditions and how they influence their respective medical systems, it also elucidates acupuncture''s meridian system and Ayurveda''s chakras and auras.

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Book SynopsisFrom humble beginnings as a `barefoot boy’ in a small town in the heart of South Africa, he learned to mix with presidents and prime ministers, with royalty and popes, and quickly embraced the high-life of the jet-set who surrounded him. Throughout life, he was a serial womanizer, bedding famous European film stars (and their secretaries). He survived three tempestuous marriages and divorces, each wife becoming younger than the last until their age difference reached 40 years. This scientifically-trained surgeon called on the services of a `witchdoctor’ (a sangoma)—unsuccessfully—to help punish those who had contributed to the break-up of his second marriage. With no experience himself, he trained his daughter to become the second-ranked water skier in the world, though he was disappointed she never became world champion. Perhaps the immense effort he put into driving her to success accounted for the relative neglect of his oldest son, who, as a young doctor, suffered increasing depression until he died of a drug overdose at an early age. The surgeon pursued his goals in heart surgery despite a lifetime of pain from arthritis and a disability from asthma, which might eventually have killed him. Having established the first major heart surgery programme in Africa, he eventually became distracted by other interests until he was a mere shadow in his own department. Yet he remained in the public eye through his gifts for public speaking and as a writer. He travelled the world, published two autobiographies, wrote popular books on health for the public, particularly relating to heart disease and arthritis, and penned books on such varied subjects as the politics of apartheid in his homeland, and euthanasia. He became a well-regarded and popular columnist for several South African newspapers, and collaborated on the writing of four novels. He branched into the business world and expanded the meagre financial rewards earned from his surgical services to the South African health care system by investing in restaurants in Cape Town, establishing a game reserve in the hinterland of South Africa, and causing controversy by his role in advertising a cream that reputedly prevented wrinkling of the skin. He set up a heart research foundation and a foundation that paid for children from all over the world to travel to Cape Town for corrective open heart surgery. This charismatic and controversial man was Chris Barnard who, by the way, also dared to carry out the world’s first human heart transplant in December 1967. Can we summarize Chris Barnard? Not very easily. He was a first-class doctor—skilled, knowledgeable, compassionate, conscientious, concerned, decisive, and wise. He was an inquiring and innovative surgeon—though famously irascible in the operating room—with a vision of the future developments in his chosen field, and the ability, judgment, and courage to play a part in contributing to those developments. He was an informative and highly entertaining speaker and raconteur, a gifted writer, farmer, restaurateur, an unofficial ambassador for his country—and a good friend.Table of ContentsForeword: Sir Roy Calne; 1 The most unforgettable character; 2 Barefoot boy—childhood; 3 Learning his trade—medical school and junior doctor; 4 The New World—surgical training in Minneapolis; 5 Mentor and maverick—Walt Lillehei; 6 Proving himself—establishing heart surgery in Cape Town; 7 Prelude to the first heart transplant; 8 Studying kidney transplantation with David Hume in Virginia; 9 Life’s defining moment—the first human-to-human heart transplant; 10 The heart transplant heard around the world; 11 The controversy over Hamilton Naki; 12 The first survivor—Barnard’s second heart transplant; 13 Heart transplant fever; 14 Meeting of the minds—the first international conference; 15 The consequences of fame; 16 A way with words—Chris as a public speaker; 17 Fame over family; 18 Staying ahead of the pack—subsequent heart transplants in Cape Town; 19 Another innovation—the piggyback heart transplant; 20 Second wife, second life; 21 Insight and innovation—important advances in heart transplantation; 22 A price too high—personal tragedies; 23 Money matters—business opportunities; 24 New horizons—Oklahoma City; 25 Three strikes and you’re out (third marriage); 26 The media—make and break; 27 Putting pen to paper—a secondary career; 28 Was everything black or white? Chris’s opinions on apartheid; 29 The Nobel Prize—should Chris have received it?; 30 Old age and death; 31 Looking back; Appendix 1–Today–progress in alternative forms of heart replacement; Appendix 2–Chris Barnard–biographical outline, degrees, awards and honours; Appendix 3–Books written by Chris Barnard; Appendix 4–Select bibliography; Appendix 5–What happened to the other players in the heart transplant story?.

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Book Synopsis

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