History of medicine Books

5235 products


  • How to Make a Killing: Death, Dollars and the

    Profile Books Ltd How to Make a Killing: Death, Dollars and the

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'A terrifying story of profit before patients, and a chilling glimpse of what can happen when private companies are allowed to take charge of healthcare.' Gavin Francis Six decades ago, researchers achieved the impossible: developing a treatment that transformed kidney failure from a death sentence to a manageable condition. Yet, in the hands of a predatory medical industry, this triumph led to skyrocketing costs and worsening care. A gripping account of privatised healthcare gone wrong, How to Make a Killing recounts how the optimism of the 1950s and 1960s - when transplants and dialysis machines offered hope - gave way to anguished debates about the ethics of rationing and profiting from life-saving care, and how Big Dialysis proliferated at the expense of its patients. A triumph of investigative research, Tom Mueller's book features an unforgettable cast of characters: CEOs who dress as musketeers to exhort more aggressive profit-seeking, nephrologist insiders who reveal the substandard care this causes, and heroic patients who risk their lives to reveal the truth.Trade Review[A] grimly fascinating and humane exposé...How to Make a Killing is about a small part of the US health economy, but it functions as an eye-openingly baleful illustration of where the embedded incentives of such a system, if not sternly regulated, would inevitably lead in any country. * Telegraph *A rich and sweeping saga that is, sadly, a quintessentially American story: How a miracle medical machine transformed into profit machine, sick and suffering patients be damned. -- Jesse Eisinger[A] beautifully written and fascinating account of both the miraculous possibilities of medical technology and the perils of poorly structured markets. -- Matt StollerA terrifying story of profit before patients, and a chilling glimpse of what can happen when private companies are allowed to take charge of healthcare. -- Gavin FrancisTom Mueller goes deep, then wide, then straight for the jugular of the corporate predators who are getting rich by exploiting the poor and vulnerable. Anybody who can read How to Make a Killing without getting outraged must be unconscious. This book raised my blood pressure by at least thirty points -- Carl ElliottInspiring and deeply distressing.....Illustrates how modern medicine could devise technologies to literally revive people dying of kidney failure and how such miracles became perverted * Ezekiel J. Emanuel *

    2 in stock

    £17.00

  • A History of Plant Medicine: Western Herbal

    Aeon Books Ltd A History of Plant Medicine: Western Herbal

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA comprehensive guide detailing the story of healing with herbs from pre-history to modern times. Drawing on her decades of experience as an established herbalist and historian, Christina Stapley presents an encyclopaedic and accessible guide to the theory and practice of Western herbal medicine throughout history. Spanning an impressive timeline of two thousand years, A History of Plant Medicine is a fundamental textbook for students and practitioners of herbal medicine to enhance their study and practice, as well as an enjoyable narrative for anyone interested in this bountiful and fascinating subject. Using a wealth of historical research, Stapley invites readers on a journey from the beginnings of botany, through to the development of Greek and Celtic medicine, including Roman medicine and the Roman settlement of Britain. It moves on to explore Anglo-Saxon leechbooks, Arabic Medicine, Norman influenced physicians and surgeons and pharmacy in the Medieval Period. It also examines the physic garden in Britain, Culpeper and Astrology, concluding with changes and developments to herbal medicine in the modern day. As well as offering a detailed chronology of herbalism in the Western world, A History of Plant Medicine provides practical advice and recipes which can be implemented in the daily practice of the modern herbalist. Stapley creates tangible threads through time, focusing on the most used herbs at different periods, and following them over the centuries. Special emphasis is put upon seeking out effective recipes and practices abandoned in favour of new ideas and foreign herbs, and each is presented clearly and accessibly throughout. A History of Plant Medicine also illuminates the work of women physicians across the ages, whose work has often been obscured or forgotten. Ultimately, A History of Plant Medicine invites herbalists (both new and old), historians, or interested lay people, to re-evaluate their relationship with herbal medicine, in understanding how different herbs are perceived in the light of knowledge and beliefs at particular times, in order to aid a greater understanding of the Western herbal tradition. Trade Review‘A History of Plant Medicine takes us on a fascinating journey beginning with earliest recorded uses of plant medicine right up to the modern day herbal renaissance. Comprehensive and meticulously researched, this book introduces the reader to key figures in western herbal medicine, ancient herbal texts, how plants and herbal knowledge have traveled from one culture to another, and introduces us to the concept of herbal energetics and how it has evolved over the centuries. For anyone interested in western herbalism, medicine and history in general, this book is a must read. It provides important historical data and an understanding of the evolution of medicine in western culture.’ Rosemary Gladstar, herbalist and author of Medicinal Herbs, A Beginners Guide ‘Christina Stapley takes us on a long walk through two thousand years of the use of medicinal plants. This big sweep is brought together by Tina’s discussion of her personal practical experience as a practitioner and in preparing medicines from historic recipes. The theme of each chapter is linked to a particular time and place and the use of relevant British plants. The timeline, bibliography and glossary mean that students or herbal practitioners can explore any theme in more detail.’ Alison Denham MA, FNIMH & Margaret Whitelegg BA PhD FNIMHThe Tree Dispensary: Native Trees by Christina Stapley featured in The Landscape Magazine (UK), 'The best of the season to inspire and admire'.The Tree Dispensary: Exotic Trees by Christina Stapley has won the Thomas DiBaggio Book Award 2023 from the International Herb Association Foundation, USA.Praise for The Tree Dispensary: Exotic Trees by Christina Stapley (Aeon, 2021) (9781913504731): “The Tree Dispensary is a first-hand account of remarkable trees of the world from a renowned herbal expert. having travelled the world to meet the trees she writes about, the author artfully weaves her personal insights and observations along with a wealth of practical and historical information. Medicinal and edible uses, history, folklore, traditional uses, and recipes and remedies are all included in this inclusive and detailed volume. The author has done a brilliant job representing a wide variety of trees and their importance in our lives.” Rosemary Gladstar, herbalist and author “This book is rich with information. Written by a herbalist-historian, it’s driven by a deep feeling for trees and their gifts and for the devastating history of people enslaved to cultivate them. she describes fruits, spices and medicine in their native habitat, picking out nuggets of folklore and historical use. it’s also an excellent guide to applying them creatively and safely today as medicine from one with long hands-on experience.” Alex Laird, medical herbalist, lecturer, author of Root to Stem “In this extremely well-researched book, Christina Stapley takes us on a rich journey of discovery exploring some of the world’s more exotic medicinal trees. From the mood-enhancing Cacao in Grenada, to the circulation-boosting Maidenhair tree in China and the antimicrobial Mastic in Chios, Christina examines key scientific research into their healing powers. This book is an essential and informative read for anyone interested in the healing properties of medicinal trees.” Chris Etheridge, medical herbalist, President of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy “Most herbals invite you to concentrate your attention on plants growing at your feet. Christina Stapley’s wonderful work The Tree Dispensary directs us to turn our eyes upwards, and to study the amazing medical qualities of our favourite garden trees. now she has extended her travels and research to the whole world, in a second collection, which ranges from such treasures as the wonderful stomach-soothing slippery elm of North America through to exotic Frankincense and Myrrh of Oman. all in all, a fascinating sidelight on medical history.” Barbara Griggs, author of Green Pharmacy Praise for The Tree Dispensary: Native Trees by Christina Stapley (Aeon, 2021) (9781913504724) "In The Tree Dispensary Christina Stapley takes you by the hand, through the seasons, to introduce you to the trees that she knows so intimately. Her friendly narrative leads you to each tree, outlining their history and folklore, their culinary attributes, medicinal history and properties and then details the way she, as a modern herbalist, uses them. It will make you appreciate the trees in your neighbourhood even more." Barbara Segall, editor of The Horticulturist

    1 in stock

    £40.00

  • The Folate Story: A vitamin under the microscope

    Troubador Publishing The Folate Story: A vitamin under the microscope

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe story of folate (vitamin B9) is one of outstanding achievements which have advanced major areas of medical practice and also of scandals of international significance. Folate was the only one of the 13 vitamins to have been discovered by a woman, Lucy Wills. She showed in1931 that the yeast extract Marmite could cure the anaemia of pregnant women in Bombay. The vitamin, first isolated from spinach, was subsequently shown not only to correct anemia but also to prevent the birth of babies with the severe defect spina bifida. The first effective anti-bacterial drugs and anti-cancer drugs were anti-folates. The scandals in the story of folate include the opposition, mainly by men, to women becoming doctors, the lack of any public recognition of Lucy Wills’s achievements, the vicious treatment the British Government gave to Waldemar Haffkine who had made for them the world’s first two anti-bacterial vaccines and saved millions of lives, and the incorrect use of folic acid to treat pernicious anaemia leading to irreversible paralysis. The most significant scandal, the failure of worldwide fortification of the diet with folic acid. This catastrophe allows thousands of babies to be born each year with the major birth defect spina bifida ,which could be prevented by this cheap, safe public health measure, already mandated for in over 80 countries, in North America since 1998.

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • The History of Domestic Plant Medicine

    The History Press Ltd The History of Domestic Plant Medicine

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe debt medicine owes to botany is not commonly appreciated. In the past, medicine relied almost entirely on plants, and even today, many western medicines are plant derived. Despite this, historians have largely neglected the study of domestic medicine, practised by the ordinary person and passed down through generations, in favour of ‘official medicine’. The History of Domestic Plant Medicine brings together manuscripts, letters, diaries, personal oral interviews and other primary evidence to produce a detailed picture of the medicinal use of native plants in Britain from 1700 to the present day. Recording for posterity this neglected aspect of our heritage, it is a valuable contribution to the study of the folklore of modern Britain and a fascinating piece of social history.

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • Doc or Quack

    Reaktion Books Doc or Quack

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History

    Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe best introduction to the terrible international impact of the Black Death. Unique, sensational and shocking, this revelatory book provides the best overview of the Europe-wide history of the Black Death. The author's painstakingly comprehensive research throws fresh light on the nature of the disease, its origin, its spread, on an almost day-to-day basis, across Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East and North Africa, its mortality rate and its impact on history. These latter two aspects are of central importance here, for it is demonstrated that the plague's death rates have consistently been under-estimated and that they were in fact much higher, making the disease's long-term effects on history even more profound. First paperback edition published 2006. OLE J. BENEDICTOW is Professor of History at the University of Oslo.Trade ReviewBenedictow's book is highly recommended. It is well written and accompanied by many helpful maps and tables of data. * STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE TEACHING *The thoroughness and precision of [Benedictow's] research are admirable. [...] Opens a treasure trove of correct information. There is no doubt that [the book] should be acquired by all university libraries. * FIFTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES *Every library that covers population studies, epistemology, or medieval history should have a copy of Benedictow's book. * POPULATION STUDIES & DEVELOPMENT *A book which should be on every Late-Medievalist's bookshelf. It is packed with valuable and well-considered accounts. ... A wonderful compilation of data which will be widely used for many years to come. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY *[This] remarkable, engrossing and controversial study is the first to assemble and synthesize historical data from every region in which the Black Death wrought havoc. [...] An immense and entirely breathtaking feat of scholarship...and a moving quest to account for a cruel phenomenon. * TLS *[This] magisterial account mixes demographic research, meticulous reading of the chronicles and modern bacteriology. * THE GUARDIAN *The author...has achieved a Herculean task in reviewing a very large part of the literature on the pestilential disease or set of diseases that afflicted Europe from 1346 to 1353. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *A valuable addition to the historiography of the Black Death. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Ambitious and contentious. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Those looking for a vast compendium of local data will not be disappointed. * SPECULUM *

    1 in stock

    £31.49

  • Foundations of Theory for Ancient Chinese

    Jessica Kingsley Publishers Foundations of Theory for Ancient Chinese

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisDiscussion of Cold Damage (Shang Han Lun) and contemporary texts of ancient China form the bedrock of modern Chinese medicine practice, yet these classic texts contain many concepts that are either hard to understand or confusing. Based on over thirty years' medical practice, and study of the texts, this book explains the concepts involved so that the clinical applications of the ancient texts can be better understood and put into practice. The author looks at the larger context of ancient Chinese culture and philosophy in terms of theoretical knowledge, scholarly approach, and mindset in order to explain the basis for the medical texts. He also discusses the work of later Chinese medical scholars in elucidating the texts. He then goes on to look at more specific issues, such as the six conformations, zang-fu organ theory, the theory of qi and blood, the theory of qi transformation, and how these are understood in the ancient texts. He also discusses shao yang and tai yang theory; the element of time, and its place in understanding six conformations diseases.This remarkable work of scholarship will clarify many questions about the interpretation of the ancient texts for modern use, and will find a place on the bookshelf of every practitioner of Chinese medicine, as well as on those of scholars of Chinese medicine.Trade ReviewLiu has excavated important historical, sociological and lineal knowledge about the development of Shang Han Lun and other important ancient texts. A scholarly and critical analysis rises from the pages in a way which is inspiring... The depth of insight provided here will enhance the skills of any serious practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine, and especially those who follow the great saint of medicine, Zhang Zhong-Jing. -- William Morris, PhD, Co-author of Li Shi-zhen Pulse Studies: An Illustrated GuideTo hold an informed position... requires that we have a proper overview of the complexities of scholarly literature over the past thousand years, the insiders understanding of Shanghan theory that professor Guohui Liu provides here. So, by explicating the story for us, and presenting his personal scholarly interpretation, he allows us to more properly understand the issues. Liu is our forester offering guidance through the dense Shanghan literature forest. -- from the foreword by Charles Buck, practitioner and teacher in Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, and Chair, British Acupuncture CouncilTable of ContentsForeword. Preface. 1. Concept of Shang Han. 2. Brief Introduction for Zhang Ji and His Works. 3. Explore Culture Background for Writing Discussion of Cold Damage. 4. School of Cold Damage and School of Studying Discussion of Cold Damage. 5. Six Conformations, Six Conformations Diseases and Six Conformations Differentiation. 6. The Theory of Qi Transformation in Six Conformations in Discussion of Cold Damage. 7. Half Exterior and Half Interior, Harmony and Shao Yang. 8. The Nutritive Qi, Defensive Qi, Tai Yang Qi and Their Treatments. 9. The Exploration of the Resolving Time for Diseases in Six Conformations. Bibliography. Appendix 1. Chinese Dynasties and Historical Periods. Appendix 2. Table of Authors. Index.

    5 in stock

    £41.79

  • Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life

    NMSE - Publishing Ltd Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisHistory and science collide in the fascinating history of anatomy, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci and the full-body papier-mâché model produced by Louis Auzoux to the crimes of William Burke and William Hare in 19th-century Edinburgh. This history of how anatomy was studied focuses on Edinburgh and the West Port murders in 1828 and acknowledges the science’s reliance on dead bodies taken without consent. Edinburgh was an important centre for medical teaching at this time but the sixteen murders exposed the darker side of the practice and study of medicine – the bodies were sold by Burke and Hare to the Edinburgh University anatomist Dr Robert Knox. The book accompanies a major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland beginning 2 July 2022 which charts five hundred years of medical exploration.Table of ContentsIntroduction/History of Anatomy/Edinburgh and Anatomy/the West Port murders/An end to grave robbing, Further reading, Acknowledgements

    1 in stock

    £14.24

  • Captive Artists: the unseen art of British Far

    Carnegie Publishing Ltd Captive Artists: the unseen art of British Far

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisRisking harsh retribution, including beatings, further privations, and at the very least confiscation, Far East prisoners of war (FEPOW) were still determined to provide the world with visual accounts of their brutal existence. Doing so was strictly forbidden, so their art had to be done on whatever scraps of paper or other materials they could beg, steal or borrow, and their paints and tools were ingeniously acquired or home made. Captive Artists brings together for the first time this secret art, created by over 65 previously unrecognised artists, all British servicemen, who documented survival during Far East captivity. In colour, pencil, pen and ink, even needle and thread and clay, this uncompromising and at times challenging collection illustrates both the importance of art as therapy, and the resilience of the human spirit. Humorous cartoons, caricatures and portraits bring the men to life. Glorious watercolours of landscapes, local flora and fauna, camp life and medical ingenuity poignantly reveal how the men lived and survived in the face of such deprivation and despair. Survival, and the artists' need to record it in myriad ways, underpins this unique collection of unseen Second World War art. Not only is the art often of an astonishingly high standard, it is also a sobering but vital portrayal of man's inhumanity to man. * Published to coincide with the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day (Victory in Japan) in 2020 * The only book that really conveys in both a visual and verbal way just what it was like living through the nightmare of captivity in the Far East * Exhibition in Philip Mould Gallery in Pall Mall in February 2020Trade Review"This wonderfully produced book expresses how unbreakable the human spirit can be in circumstances of unthinkable adversity. The art these men generated, so excellently exposited within these pages, reveals untold historical truths in ways that words alone could never impart." Philip Mould, art historian, art dealer and broadcaster (BBC's Fake or Fortune)

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • Every Branch of the Healing Art: A History of the

    1 in stock

    £31.50

  • Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New

    BenBella Books Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisRecommended by Bill Gates and included in GatesNotes "Elaborating on the science as well as the business behind the fight against cystic fibrosis, Trivedi captures the emotions of the families, doctors, and scientists involved in the clinical trials and their 'weeping with joy' as new drugs are approved, and shows how cystic fibrosis, once a 'death sentence,' became, for many, a manageable condition. This is a rewarding and challenging work." —Publishers Weekly Cystic fibrosis was once a mysterious disease that killed infants and children. Now it could be the key to healing millions with genetic diseases of every type—from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and sickle cell anemia. In 1974, Joey O'Donnell was born with strange symptoms. His insatiable appetite, incessant vomiting, and a relentless cough—which shook his tiny, fragile body and made it difficult to draw breath—confounded doctors and caused his parents agonizing, sleepless nights. After six sickly months, his salty skin provided the critical clue: he was one of thousands of Americans with cystic fibrosis, an inherited lung disorder that would most likely kill him before his first birthday. The gene and mutation responsible for CF were found in 1989—discoveries that promised to lead to a cure for kids like Joey. But treatments unexpectedly failed and CF was deemed incurable. It was only after the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a grassroots organization founded by parents, formed an unprecedented partnership with a fledgling biotech company that transformative leaps in drug development were harnessed to produce groundbreaking new treatments: pills that could fix the crippled protein at the root of this deadly disease. From science writer Bijal P. Trivedi, Breath from Salt chronicles the riveting saga of cystic fibrosis, from its ancient origins to its identification in the dank autopsy room of a hospital basement, and from the CF gene's celebrated status as one of the first human disease genes ever discovered to the groundbreaking targeted genetic therapies that now promise to cure it. Told from the perspectives of the patients, families, physicians, scientists, and philanthropists fighting on the front lines, Breath from Salt is a remarkable story of unlikely scientific and medical firsts, of setbacks and successes, and of people who refused to give up hope—and a fascinating peek into the future of genetics and medicine.Trade Review"I couldn't put the book down." —Bill Gates “A thorough and engrossing saga packed with information, Breath from Salt is really about the transformative power of hope. It arrives at just the right moment, when too many of us have forgotten what human faith, ingenuity, and relentless determination can accomplish.” —Dan Fagin, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Toms River “Beautifully written, Breath from Salt brings to life the amazing story of a passionate community that dared to dream, work together, and take extraordinary risks to bring life-saving treatments to those with cystic fibrosis. Timely and important, the breakthroughs described in this book are likely to accelerate cures for many other genetic diseases.” —Dr. Preston W. Campbell, former president and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis FoundationTable of ContentsContents Introduction Part IChapter 1: Hello, Joey 1974Chapter 2: The Treatment Plan 1974Chapter 3: Case 44: Babies Hospital, New York City 1935Chapter 4: A New Disease 1936–1937Chapter 5: An Equal Opportunity Disease 1938–1942Chapter 6: Christmas Homecoming 1974–1977Chapter 7: The Sweat Test 1943–1960Chapter 8: A Tribe of Desperate Parents 1950–1955Chapter 9: Lessons from Polio 1955–1960Chapter 10: The Registry 1960–1966Chapter 11: The Therapist 1977Chapter 12: A Disease in Search of Ideas 1964–1980Chapter 13: The Hitman Cometh 1979–1982Chapter 14: Salt and Water 1970–1981Chapter 15: Salty Boy 1981–1983Chapter 16: Birth of an Advocate 1984 Chapter 17: Out of Many, One 1978–1984 Part 2Chapter 18: The Gene Hunters 1980–1984Chapter 19: Lucky Number Seven 1984–1985Chapter 20: Kate 1986Chapter 21: To Screen or Not to Screen Newborns 1985Chapter 22: Michigan 1985Chapter 23: Joey’s Long Goodbye 1986Chapter 24: Mad Pursuit 1987Chapter 25: The Gene 1989Chapter 26: Runny, Like Water 1989–1994Chapter 27: Venture Philanthropy—A New Way to Fund Drug Development 1977–1999Chapter 28: The Gene Is the Medicine 1989–1991Chapter 29: Transforming the Lungs 1992–2003Chapter 30: First-in-Human Trials 1992–1993Chapter 31: The Beall Curve 1996 Part 3Chapter 32: The Joey Fund 1989–1999Chapter 33: A Network for Developing Therapeutic Drugs 1997–1998Chapter 34: Aurora 1998–1999Chapter 35: The Gates Open 1987–2000Chapter 36: A Tale of Four Families—CF in the New Millennium 1999Chapter 37: The Takeover 2001Chapter 38: Getting the Band Together 2001–2003Chapter 39: Pay to Play 2002–2004Chapter 40: Molecular Architects of Vertex West 2004–2005Chapter 41: Rat to Man 2003–2004Chapter 42: A Christmas Gift 2004–2005Chapter 43: The Lucky Four 2005–2007Chapter 44: The Doorman Launches the Era of Genetic Medicine 2007–2008Chapter 45: Disruption Fall 2008Chapter 46: Tasting like Average People 2010–2012Chapter 47: Milestones to a Cure 2004–2015Chapter 48: Tackling the Common Mutation 2004–2013Chapter 49: What Mutation Are You? 2013–2014Chapter 50: The Mother of All Deals 2014Chapter 51: Very Personal Clinical Trials 2021–2017Chapter 52: The Triple 2015–2017Chapter 53: The Home Stretch 2018Chapter 54: The Leftovers 2015–2020Chapter 55: A New Generation 2017–2020 Epilogue 2019–2020 AcknowledgmentsTimelineEndnotesAbout the Author

    1 in stock

    £19.79

  • Springer International Publishing AG Curiosities in Medicine: Alphabetically

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThis anthology is devoted to the curious side of Medical History. Carl Sagan said: ”You have to know the past to understand the present.” This collection of 80 short stories, written by experts in the field, inspires curiosity and provides a detailed look at the History of Medicine. It investigates many topics, including ancient Egyptian knowledge, the fundamental importance of toothache and how it birthed Anesthesia, and why and when women were allowed to run marathons. The authors report on the background of rubber gloves, the stethoscope and the intraocular lens. Historically important biographies are included, such as those of Arthur Conan Doyle, Napoleon Bonaparte and Claude Monet. The book is relevant for those interested in Medicine and its curious history. Trade Review“The new publication by Sibylle Scholtz, Myriam Becker, Lee MacMorris and Achim Langenbucher ‘Curiosities in Medicine’, offers a very good opportunity. The book, which you hardly want to put down, tells episodes from the history of medicine that are memorable, with ophthalmology being well represented. … One has to force oneself to stop at this point. Rather offer this advice: Buy this book and enjoy it!” (Ronald D. Gerste, EC Ophthalmology, Vol. 14 (8), August, 2023)Table of ContentsAlhazen.-Apple.-Auenbrugger.-Atropos.-Bach.-Braille.-Barbieri.-Berger.-Borodin.-Bruegel.-Biometry.-Bleuler.-Brändström.-Cassatt.-Credé.-Chinin.-daVinci.-Doyle.-Dunant.-Ether.-Eye Banking.-El Greco.-Franklin.-Fiat lux.-Football.-Fercher.-Finger Print.-Gullstrand.-Gustav II.-Guie Dogs.-Glass Eyes.-Goethe-.Helmholtz.-Haidinger.-Halsted.-Haldane.-Hysteria.-Hales.-Iry.-IOL Power Calculation.-Jersey.-Kohl.-Korotkow.-Knwipp.-Kirschner.-Leprosis.-Laënnec.-Laser.-LSD.-Marfan.-Meyer-Schwickerath.-Monet.-Marathon.-Mann, Ida.-Material.-Napoleon.-Odilia.-OVDs.-Optography.-OCT.-Quincke.-Ridley.-Scopoli.-Santorio.-Sauerbruch.-Schweitzer.-Stilling.-Turner.-Ultrasound.-Visual Aids.-White Cane.-Wichterle.-Zirm.-Zamenhof.

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Historical Diseases from a Modern Perspective

    Springer International Publishing AG Historical Diseases from a Modern Perspective

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisHistorical Diseases from a Modern Perspective: The American Experience is a must read for any student of history or fan of historical novels. Every disease section contains fascinating historical insights relevant to the American experience, including how the 1900 outbreak of plague in San Franciso was contained, why the flow of the Chicago River was reversed, why chicken pox parties were once common, how the scourge of yellow fever was abated, and why poor southerners were once considered lazy and shiftless. Those readers interested in military history will learn how smallpox impacted troop strength in the Revolutionary War, dysentery in the Civil War, influenza in WWI, malaria in WWII, and sexually transmitted diseases across all wars. The social history of alcohol and opioid use is outlined as is the pre-antibiotic treatment of syphilis and gonorrhea, giving rise to the quip, A night with Venus and a lifetime with mercury, and the nickname clap. The use of anthrax as a tool of biote

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • The West Riding Asylum and the Origins of British Neurology 18661876

    Springer Nature Switzerland AG The West Riding Asylum and the Origins of British Neurology 18661876

    1 in stock

    a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

    1 in stock

    £28.49

  • 2 in stock

    £18.00

  • The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians 2: Internal

    The American University in Cairo Press The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians 2: Internal

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisAncient Egyptian medicine employed advanced surgical practices, while the prevention and treatment of diseases relied mostly on natural remedies and magical incantations. Following the successful first volume of The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians, which dealt with surgical practices and the treatment of women and children, this second volume explores a wide range of internal medical problems that the Egyptian population suffered in antiquity, and various methods of their treatment. These include ailments of the respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems, chiefly heart diseases of various types, coughs, stomachaches, constipation, diarrhea, internal parasites, and many other medical conditions. Drawing on formulas and descriptions in the Ebers papyrus and other surviving ancient Egyptian medical papyri, as well as physical evidence and wall depictions, the authors present translations of the medical treatises together with commentaries and interpretations in the light of modern medical knowledge. The ancient texts contain numerous recipes for the preparation of various remedies, often herbal in the form of pills, drinks, ointments, foods, or enemas. These reveal a great deal about ancient Egyptian physicians and their deep understanding of the healing properties of herbs and other medicinal substances. Illustrated with thirty-five photographs and line drawings, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians: 2: Internal Medicine is highly recommended reading for scholars of ancient Egyptian medicine and magic, as well as for paleopathologists, medical historians, and physical anthropologists.

    2 in stock

    £47.49

  • Dr Mary's Monkey

    Trine Day Dr Mary's Monkey

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisGet ready for the “Hottest cold case in America!” This updated paperback contains the same content as the 2014 hard cover edition which has 25 additional pages of revelations added since the original 2007 paperback. These new pages include documents from the FBI, CIA, CDC, and NOPD, plus the actual crime scene photos from the 1964 murder of Dr. Mary Sherman. The bizarre death of this nationally known cancer researcher sets the stage for this gripping exposÉ of medical professionals enmeshed in covert government operations. Following a trail of police reports, FBI files, cancer statistics, and medical journals, this revealing book presents a web of secret-keeping which swept doctors into cover-ups of contaminated polio vaccines, cancer outbreaks, the arrival of the AIDS virus, and a deadly biological weapon tested on both monkeys and humans. Add Lee Harvey Oswald to the cast of this secret bio-weapon project, and this dark tale connects Oswald’s summer of secrets to the intrigue surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy.

    2 in stock

    £16.16

  • Collected Studies: Jewish Doctors in the Middle

    Academic Studies Press Collected Studies: Jewish Doctors in the Middle

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn Collected Studies (Volume 4): Jews in the Medical Profession, Joseph Shatzmiller, the prominent scholar of Provence Jewry, presents a fascinating glimpse into the world of Jewish doctors and medicine in medieval Western Europe. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources and intellectual history, Shatzmiller delves into the lives and experiences of Jewish physicians who played a crucial role in the medical profession during the Middle Ages. From their scientific collaborations with Christian colleagues to their role as leaders within the Jewish community, this book provides a rich portrait of the complex and dynamic world of medieval medicine. The book covers topics such as the Jewish students in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montpellier, Jewish women in medicine, doctors’ salaries, pharmacology, and medical books. With its insightful analysis and meticulous research, Jews in the Medical Profession is a valuable contribution to the history of medicine and Jewish studies.“The collection of studies that these four volumes offer is the result of more than sixty years of commitment to scholarship. Like many colleagues, I relied in the beginning on printed material in books that dealt with law, religion, and secular literature. Then, as a disciple of George Duby, I discovered the world of archives and hand-written Latin manuscripts. The present collection relies, to a great extent, on previously unknown information discovered during years of search in the archives of Southern France, mostly on those of the county of Provence. They are situated in the cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence as well as the town of Digne. The legal registers of the High Middle Ages (1250-1350) as well as those produced by the counties’ administration introduce us to the ordinary people of the region, to their daily life and to their preoccupations; their names are spelled out, the dates are recorded and the localities in which they were active are designated. At times these documents encourage us to endorse information found in contemporary literary sources and to overcome our hesitation and excessive caution concerning their value as historical evidence.”— Joseph ShatzmillerTrade Review“Joseph Shatzmiller, the foremost expert on Provençal Judaism, has throughout the course of his career provided a rich and powerful mosaic of Jewish society in Provence. Known for his insightful analysis of historical documents and primary sources, Shatzmiller’s research consistently illuminates the significance of Provence Jewry within the larger framework of Jewish communities in the Mediterranean and western Europe during the Middle Ages. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources and intellectual history, his work is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Jewish communities in medieval Europe.”— Ram Ben-Shalom, Professor of the History of the Jewish People, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; author of The Jews of Provence and LanguedocTable of ContentsI The Making of Jewish Doctors1 On Becoming a Jewish Doctor in The High Middle Ages* 2 Apprenticeship or Academic Education: The Making of Jewish Doctors3 Livres médicaux et éducation médicale : à propos d’un contrat de Marseille en 1316 II Attending the Medieval University 1 Un cercle de savants de Montpellier vers 1300 : Contacts et Échanges entre erudits juifs et chretiens2 Étudiants juifs à la faculté de médecine de Montpellier, dernier quart du XIVe siècle 3 La faculté de médecine de Montpellier et son influence en Provence: Témoignages en hébreu, en latin et en langue vulgaireIII Activity North and South 1 Notes sur les médecins juifs en Provence au Moyen ge2 Médecins municipaux en Provence, Catalogne et autres régions de l’Europe méridionale (1350–1400)3 Jewish Physicians in Sicily 4 Doctors and Medical Practice in Germany around the Year 1200: The Evidence of Sefer Hasidim5 Doctors and Medical Practices in Germany around the Year 1200: The Evidence of Sefer AsaphIV The Medicalization of Society1 Femmes médecins au Moyen ge: Témoignages sur leurs pratiques (1250–1350)2 Doctors’ Fees and Their Medical Responsibility: Evidence from Notarial and Court Records*3 Médecins et expertise médicale dans la ville médiévale: Manosque 1280–13484 The Jurisprudence of the Dead Body: Medical Practitioners at the Service of Civic and Legal AuthoritiesV The Range of Medical Services 1 Médecine et gynécologie au Moyen- ge : un exemple provençal 2 Soigner le corps souffrant : Pratiques médicales au tournant du XIVe siècle3 Soins de beauté, image et image de soi : le cas des juifs du Moyen ge4 Herbes et drogues dans la médecine provençale du Moyen ge5 Roger Bacon’s Critique of the Pharmaceutics of His Day

    1 in stock

    £51.84

  • Medicine Health and Healing in the Ancient

    University of California Press Medicine Health and Healing in the Ancient

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £30.60

  • Maladies of Empire

    Harvard University Press Maladies of Empire

    Book SynopsisStandard histories of infectious disease celebrate brilliant minds such as Florence Nightingale, John Snow, and Robert Koch. In this unorthodox telling, Jim Downs focuses on a forgotten group of contributors: the conscript soldiers, colonial subjects, and enslaved people whose bodies were the experimental matter on which medical progress relied.Trade ReviewFor those of us looking warily toward future epidemics, this book draws our attention to oft-forgotten sources of medical knowledge…Deserves to be read, particularly now. Few will question the salvational power that epidemiology will likely have in the years to come. -- Suman Seth * Science *Downs has now given global context to nineteenth-century advances in medicine and public health, beyond the dominant histories rooted in Western Europe and the ancient world. In Maladies of Empire, he centers slave ships, people living in colonized countries, prisoners, and wars in the narrative of medical discovery, at the foundation of epidemiology…He recovers lost and untold stories and makes visible things that need to be seen. -- Mary T. Bassett * Nature *[A] searching reappraisal of the origins of epidemiology…Those who lead epidemiology and public health today should read Maladies of Empire. They might wish to reflect on the origins of their discipline, the histories they choose to ignore, the myths they prefer to propagate. And they might wish to consider the debt they—we—owe to those who were, and in some cases still are, abused, mistreated, and manipulated in the name of public health. -- Richard Horton * The Lancet *Maladies of Empire has a captivating writing style, is exhaustively researched, and is persuasive in argumentation. Jim Downs has written a game-changing book. -- Deirdre Cooper Owens, author of Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American GynecologyMaladies of Empire provides an illuminating, painstaking, yet engaging interrogation of original records and sources, filling critical gaps in the development of epidemiology. Indispensable and compelling. -- Harriet A. Washington, author of the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning Medical ApartheidExposes how doctors with few clues made concerted efforts to track and understand deadly epidemics at a time when the colonialist enterprise was aggressively remaking the world…[Downs] fleshes out a crucial part of a larger tapestry to help explain the onset of racial segregation in the United States. The people whose experiences he tries to recover ‘appear only as fragments’ in the historical record but they impart a crucial dimension that remains utterly germane to the present. -- John Galbraith Simmons * Los Angeles Review of Books *Connects imperialism, enslavement, and warfare to argue that it is at the intersection of these processes that we can trace the beginnings of modern epidemiological thinking…Not only does such a narrative shed light on the violent foundations of disease control interventions and public health initiatives, but it also implores us to address their inequities in the present. At a time when low-income and middle-income countries struggle for access to vaccines in the COVID-19 pandemic, such an endeavor could not be more urgent. -- Raghav Kishore * The Lancet *Downs has written an eye-popping study of the history of infectious diseases, how they spread, and especially how they have been thwarted by experimentation on the bodies of soldiers, slaves, and colonial subjects. For three centuries medicine transformed science and human longevity by knowledge garnered from battlefields, slave ships, and mass migrations of vulnerable people. This is a timely, brilliant book about some of the brutal ironies in the story of medical progress. Our health today owes so much to the blood and suffering of nameless predecessors. -- David W. Blight, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of FreedomIn this brilliant and timely book, Jim Downs uncovers the origins of epidemiology in slavery, colonialism, and war. Controlling large populations through violence and burgeoning state bureaucracies allowed for new insights into the genesis and spread of human disease. A most original global history, this book is required reading for historians, medical researchers, and really anyone interested in the origins of modern medicine. -- Sven Beckert, author of the Bancroft Prize–winning Empire of Cotton: A Global HistoryMaladies of Empire is a major contribution to the ongoing investigation of the impact of slavery and colonialism on the modern world. Jim Downs shows how studies of exploited groups helped scientists understand the spread and treatment of infectious disease. At a time when epidemiologists are rightly lauded for their work in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, Downs calls on us not to forget the role, without their consent, of the long forgotten enslaved, colonized, and imprisoned in the development and global dissemination of medical knowledge. -- Eric Foner, author of The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the ConstitutionMaladies of Empire shifts the site of medical knowledge from European cities to the international slave trade, colonial lands and wars, and the resulting movement of populations. This vivid and brilliant analysis of these critical sites fundamentally changes our views of the origins of epidemiology and the transnational flow of medical knowledge about disease transmission. This excellent work will surely become required reading for historians of medicine, disease, and empire. -- Evelynn M. Hammonds, coeditor of The Nature of DifferenceIn this meticulously researched and beautifully written work, Jim Downs transforms our understanding of the relationship between the history of medicine, colonialism, and the institution of slavery. Maladies of Empire illuminates the crucial connections between eighteenth- and nineteenth-century comprehension of disease and the evidence gathered from captive Africans, enslaved plantation workers, and soldiers throughout the Atlantic world. Charting the origins of modern epidemiology in the inequities of forced labor, Downs makes foundational contributions to the histories of medicine, colonialism, and slavery. Everyone interested in the connections between race and disease should read Maladies of Empire. -- Jennifer L. Morgan, author of Reckoning with SlaveryA powerful account of the intertwined histories of medicine and empire, within a truly global framework. Simultaneously intimate and sweeping, Maladies of Empire reveals the human side of the development of epidemiology. Inverting the traditional focus on medical men, Downs puts soldiers, prisoners, and enslaved people at the heart of the rise of scientific medicine, providing a compelling account of how our modern-day tools of epidemiology were shaped by war, slavery, and colonialism. -- Erica Charters, author of Disease, War, and the Imperial StateA compelling read for everyone interested in the connection between slavery, colonialism, and war and the advancement of medical knowledge. -- Okori Uneke * International Social Science Review *Relevant reading for historians in a wide variety of fields but especially healthcare historians. By recognizing the experience of the enslaved poor and military in the evolution of medicine, it gives in part a voice to those who usually appear as a statistic while the clinicians are lauded. -- Michael Davidson * British Society for the History of Medicine *Using historiographical techniques developed by Black feminist scholars, Downs’ well-crafted narrative shifts the focus from the actions of individual physicians to the scaffolding that their research was built upon. It carries us from the crowded conditions on slave ships and prisons to filthy battlefields to plantations, reminding us that the data physicians used to develop theories of disease transmission, develop medical procedures, and recommend public health measures was built on a scaffolding of unacknowledged bodies belonging to soldiers, colonial subjects, and enslaved persons. -- Elisabeth Brander * The Watermark *Downs makes a strong argument that epidemiology (and much else in modern medicine) stemmed from close observation of non-European populations under conditions of European oppression: in slave ships, on colonial plantations, and in armies. -- Crawford Kilian * The Tyee *Maladies of Empire puts the public health of the U.S. early republic, antebellum, and Civil War eras into global context with that of the British Empire in a transoceanic discourse about bio-power, race, and medical authority. -- Zachary Dorner * Journal of the Early Republic *Downs’ analysis is innovative and his argument is convincing, buttressed by the wealth of physicians’ reports, correspondence, and medical journals…The book is a fantastic resource for students of medicine and history at any level, as the writing is clear and accessible, and for scholars interested in the global history of disease, especially in the era of COVID-19. -- Andrew Kishuni * Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History *Maladies of Empire is the best kind of transnational history—one that moves seamlessly across space and time, while drawing intricate connections about medical knowledge production in the critical field of epidemiology. Written in accessible prose, this timely book challenges readers to look closely at those hidden figures whose lives contributed to the development of modern medicine. -- Thomas J. Balcerski * Civil War History *If you are an aficionado of medical history, and of writers who try to set the record straight, this is a book for you. -- Patrick Skerrett * Stat *Downs has succeeded in adding an important new work to medical historiography by linking colonialism, slavery, and war, topics usually examined separately, and demonstrating persuasively that in the development of epidemiology, they are not separate at all, but inextricable. -- Jennifer Paxton * Southwestern Historical Quarterly *True world history, ranging from India and the Crimea to Jamaica. Turning the history of epidemiology on its head, inspired by Black feminist theory and criticism, Downs argues…‘how slavery is imprinted on the DNA of epidemiology.’ * New West Indian Guide *Slavery pervades Downs’s book. This theme is presented in an accessible and emotional tone, often transporting the reader to the underbelly of a slave ship or to the shadow of the hickory tree amidst a cotton plantation, to better situate the reader in the realities of forgotten human experiences that informed their contributions to epidemiology. -- Shibani Das * Imperial & Global Forum *An engaging narrative that provides valuable insights into the emergence of modern medicine and science…By elucidating the origins of epidemiology, Maladies of Empire allows public health officials to question whether their methods have any lingering traces of unequal power and control while affording scholars the opportunity to consider the ways in which health and medicine intersected with slavery, empire, and war in the past. -- John Rankin * Journal of World History *A must-read book for historians interested in the intersection of the history of medicine, slavery, and other forms of unfreedom. Downs’s talent for storytelling also makes this book compelling reading for students and lay readers alike. -- Christopher D. E. Willoughby * Black Perspectives *A page-turner…Downs’ peer-reviewed book is an asset to novices as well as public health experts. -- Nontsikelelo O. Mapukata * The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa *Maladies of Empire leaves the reader with a greater appreciation for the people left out of traditional medical histories, some unforgettable stories, and many thought-provoking questions. -- Bradford J. Wood * North Carolina Historical Review *Maladies of Empire demonstrates the benefits of scholarship that crosses national and imperial historiographies, as well as the value of recovering aspects of lives only glimpsed in the archives. Downs’s engaging prose and clear argumentation make this book accessible to an undergraduate audience, as well as informative to senior scholars. -- Sean Morey Smith * Journal of the Civil War Era *Jim Downs has written an ambitious book…[It] is a significant achievement for the sheer number of cases of colonial medical experimentation and epidemiological studies that it brings to our attention and for shifting the focus of the social history of epidemiology to the colonies. It will become a vital text in historical and contemporary discussions on race, medicine, and decolonization. -- Pratik Chakrabarti * American Historical Review *Applying the study of history to medicine can often be uncomfortable, so I had some trepidation as I picked up Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine by Jim Downs. The title certainly grabbed my attention; did these events really transform medicine? After reading this provocative book, it is hard to argue otherwise. -- Michael L. Farrell * Journal of Medical Regulation *

    £16.10

  • Johns Hopkins University Press Epidemics Laid Low A History of What Happened in

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEpidemics continue to threaten us today. What do our responses to these threats say about our priorities? Will the security of public health remain a privilege of a few powerful countries or will poorer countries benefit from the efforts of the rich to prevent the spread of disease inside their own borders?Trade ReviewBourdelais covers heavily traversed grounds in public health history, though providing his own insights along the way. -- Linda Bryder Health and History 2007Table of ContentsIntroduction to the English-Language EditionIntroduction1. The Plague EraFrom the Plague of the Philistines to Justinian's PlagueThe Black DeathThe Price of GrowthDecisions to Protect HealthBad Air—or Planetary Misalignment?Flagellants and PogromsThe Danse Macabre and the Apocalypse2. Modernity: New Concepts of the State and the BodyEconomies of ScaleThe Care of the BodyA Cure at Any CostThe Decline of MortalityFrom Helvétius to Vicq d'AzyrFresh Air and Clean WaterVaccination and the ElitesVaccination's Astonishing SuccessA Short-lived Success?3. Cholera: The Return of Epidemic Disease and the Abandonment of Traditional Protective MeasuresContagion or Infection?The Cholera Epidemic as a Natural ExperimentHealth through IsolationDisease as Population ControlThe Mobilization of Political and Technical ResourcesTurning Away from Traditional Protective Measures4. The "English System": New Methods Gain AcceptanceThe English InitiativeCleanliness or Poverty?The New QuarantineThe New Sanitary FrontierSocial Stigmatization and HealthThe War on SyphilisBlaming the Victims: New Mothers5. The Sanitary Reform Movement: From Miasma Theory to Departments of HealthSanitary ReformersMaternity Wars: Should They Be Closed Down?The Effects of Better NurtitionCity Health Departments, 1879–1900The Importance of Municipal Policies6. Vaccination: A Powerful ParadigmSmallpox Vaccination: The Difficult Road to AcceptanceBacteriology and New VaccinesPasteur's Laboratory InvestigationsTuberculosis: Feared, Resistant, and RomanticThe Twentieth Century: New Vaccines despite Theoretical UncertaintiesObjections to VaccinationOrganized Political Opposition7. The Era of Spectacular VictoriesBacteriology's Successes: Sulfamides and AntibioticsVictory over TuberculosisIndustrialization and the Expansion of DemandGovernment Programs8. The End of a Dream?Resistance and Emerging and Re-emerging InfectionsThe Thunderbolt: AIDSWhat about the Rest of the World?ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

    1 in stock

    £38.70

  • Never Pure  Historical Studies of Science as if

    Johns Hopkins University Press Never Pure Historical Studies of Science as if

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis wide-ranging and intensely interdisciplinary collection by one of the most distinguished historians and sociologists of science represents some of the leading edges of change in the scholarly understanding of science over the past several decades.Trade ReviewWhat makes his essays so enjoyable and alive... is their leaping range of reference, always running one step ahead and urging us to catch up. -- Jenny Uglow New York Review of Books 2010 Professor Shapin has a sense of humor, a good eye for an anecdote and the ability to turn a phrase. -- Katherine Bouton New York Times 2010 While it might not be for novices, anyone who is interested in how and why science enjoys a privileged position as a source of knowledge should read Shapin's take on the authority given to it vis-a-vis religion and morality, why it is compliment to be both a gentleman and a scholar, and why it matters whether Newton ate chicken or Darwin farted. Seed Magazine 2010 An impressive work and one that scientists will benefit from reading. Shapin reminds us that... neither scientists nor science itself can be separated from the context of peoples' minds, bodies, cultures, societies. Expectations based on any other understanding are simply unrealistic. -- Sam Lemonick Chemical and Engineering News 2010 He is a graceful and engaging essayist, and the ample selection of essays in Never Pure ... affords an excellent basis for reflecting on what he has had to say about the life of science. -- Robert E. Kohler Science 2010 Never Pure will enrich the bookshelf of any historian of science. -- Katy Barrett Endeavour 2010Table of ContentsPreface1. Lowering the Tone in the History of Science: A Noble CallingPart I: Methods and Maxims2. Cordelia's Love: Credibility and the Social Studies of Science3. How to Be Antiscientific4. Science and Prejudice in Historical PerspectivePart II: Places and Practices5. The House of Experiment in Seventeenth-century England6. Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary TechnologyPart III: The Scientific Person7. "The Mind Is Its Own Place": Science and Solitude in Seventeenth-century England8. "A Scholar and a Gentleman": The Problematic Identity of the Scientific Practitioner in Seventeenth-century England9. Who Was Robert Hooke?10. Who Is the Industrial Scientist? Commentary from Academic Sociology and from the Shop Floor in the United States, ca. 1900–ca. 1970Part IV: The Body of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Body11. The Philosopher and the Chicken: On the Dietetics of Disembodied Knowledge12. How to Eat Like a Gentleman: Dietetics and Ethics in Early Modern EnglandPart V: The World of Science and the World of Common Sense13. Trusting George Cheyne: Scientific Expertise, Common Sense, and Moral Authority in Early Eighteenth-century Dietetic Medicine14. Proverbial Economies: How an Understanding of Some Linguistic and Social Features of Common Sense Can Throw Light on More Prestigious Bodies of Knowledge, Science for Example15. Descartes the Doctor: Rationalism and Its TherapiesPart VI: Science and Modernity16. Science and the Modern WorldNotesIndex

    1 in stock

    £27.45

  • DSM

    Johns Hopkins University Press DSM

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive history of psychiatry's biblethe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Over the past seventy years, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, has evolved from a virtually unknown and little-used pamphlet to an imposing and comprehensive compendium of mental disorder. Its nearly 300 conditions have become the touchstones for the diagnoses that patients receive, students are taught, researchers study, insurers reimburse, and drug companies promote. Although the manual is portrayed as an authoritative corpus of psychiatric knowledge, it is a product of intense political conflicts, dissension, and factionalism. The manual results from struggles among psychiatric researchers and clinicians, different mental health professions, and a variety of patient, familial, feminist, gay, and veterans' interest groups. The DSM is fundamentally a social document that both reflects and shapes the professional, economic, and cultural forcTrade ReviewHis close look at the DSM is a meticulous blow-by-blow, tracking its evolution in the context of shifting psychiatric care, expanding disease taxonomy, growing pharmaceutical influence, emerging social movements, and a diverse array of personalities and identities (trans, queer) classified as disorders.—Amy Biancolli, MAD IN AMERICAHorowitz tells this sorry tale with skill and panache... It is the best synthetic account of this territory anyone has produced to date.—Andrew Scull, UC San Diego, Los Angeles Review of BooksHorwitz retains a scrupulous objectivity; but nonetheless, the tale he tells is of one of the most resounding and damaging follies of modern scientism. —Will Self, SpectatorAllan Horwitz is to be congratulated on a fine book that deserves to be read by everyone concerned about the state of psychiatry.—Robert M Kaplan, University of Western Sydney, Australia, Sushruta Health Policy & OpinionsTable of ContentsPrefaceChapter 1. Diagnosing Mental IllnessChapter 2. The DSM-I and II Chapter 3. The Path to a Diagnostic RevolutionChapter 4. The DSM-IIIChapter 5. The DSM-III-R and DSM-IVChapter 6. The DSM-5's Failed Revolution Chapter 7. The DSM as a Social CreationNotesReferencesIndex

    5 in stock

    £27.45

  • Notes on Hospitals

    Rydon Publishing Notes on Hospitals

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this classic historical text on hospitals, Florence Nightingale voices the importance of hygiene, fresh air and water, cleanliness, proper drainage, and ample light as well as ongoing consideration for patients' feelings. Nightingale's ability to effectively articulate her ideas impressed her contemporaries and continues to influence readers of today. During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale achieved renown as "The Lady with the Lamp", the tireless caretaker of wounded soldiers. Later, Nightingale searched Europe for innovations to help the army improve its hospital care. This report of her findings and suggestions had a profound effect on the medical community and reestablished the author as an international healthcare authority. Despite the advances in medical knowledge since Nightingale's era, her common sense-approach continues to form a solid foundation for nursing. Publishing in conjunction with the Florence Nightingale Museum, Notes on Hospitals celebrates the bicentenary anniversary of Florence Nightingale. This volume serves as a companion to Nightingale's classic of nursing literature, Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 9781910821374. AUTHOR: Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820-13 August 1910) was an English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager of nurses trained by her during the Crimean War, where she organised the tending to wounded soldiers. She gave nursing a highly favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.Table of ContentsPreface 7 Foreword 8 Sanitary Condition of Hospitals and Hospital Construction Part I 10 Part II 23 Answers to Written Questions 35 Note A 92 Note B 94 Note C 97 Note D 100 Note E 102 Note F 106 Appendix 112 Construction of Hospitals - the Ground Plan 117 Index 140

    3 in stock

    £8.99

  • Notes on Nursing: What it is, and what it is not

    Rydon Publishing Notes on Nursing: What it is, and what it is not

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this classic historical nursing text, Florence Nightingale shares her advice on nursing to those entrusted with the health of others. Publishing in conjunction with the Florence Nightingale Museum, Notes on Nursing celebrates the bicentenary anniversary of Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale was the ground-breaking female nurse who was responsible for the bettering of conditions in the hospitals of the Crimea, during the war with Russia. First published in 1859, Notes on Nursing is entirely comprised of nursing advice designed to aid individuals entrusted with the health care of others. The guidance Nightingale wrote of includes such practicalities as ventilation, heating, noise, light, bedding, and the cleanliness of the patient's environment, as well as a nurse's personal cleanliness and methods of observation. This work also addresses the treatment of those being nursed, from the food they eat to the things they should or should not be told. The pioneering work of Florence Nightingale and her effort to structure the care of the unwell has since earned her recognition as one of the world's founders of modern nursing. This volume serves as a companion to Nightingale's classic, Notes on Hospitals: 9781910821374.Table of Contents Foreword 8 Ventilation and Warming 15 Health of Houses 26 Petty Management 37 Noise 46 Variety 60 Taking Food 65 What Food? 71 Bed and Bedding 81 Light 87 Cleanliness and Rooms and Walls 90 Personal Cleanliness 96 Chattering Hopes and Advices 99 Observation of the Sick 108 Conclusion 129 Appendix 138 Index 142

    5 in stock

    £8.99

  • Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time

    Oneworld Publications Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Sunday Times Book of the Year As featured on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club Dr James Barry: Inspector General of Hospitals, army surgeon, duellist, reformer, ladykiller, eccentric. He performed the first successful Caesarean in the British Empire, outraged the military establishment and gave Florence Nightingale a dressing down at Scutari. At home he was surrounded by a menagerie of animals, including a cat, a goat, a parrot and a terrier. Long ago in Cork, Ireland, he had also been a mother. This is the amazing tale of Margaret Anne Bulkley, the young woman who broke the rules of Georgian society to become one of the most respected surgeons of the century. In an extraordinary life, she crossed paths with the British Empire’s great and good, royalty and rebels, soldiers and slaves. A medical pioneer, she rose to a position that no woman before her had been allowed to occupy, but for all her successes, her long, audacious deception also left her isolated, even costing her the chance to be with the man she loved.Trade Review‘A scintillating portrait of Barry’s life…that feels almost Dickensian in style.’ * Guardian *‘An astounding story – of obstinacy, ambition, genius, fearlessness and pioneering feminism.’ * Daily Mail *‘Thoroughly engaging.’ * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *‘Gripping, unusual, moving.’ * Times, Books of the Year *‘A comprehensive account.’ * London Review of Books *'Fascinating’. * History Today *‘Thoroughly researched, stimulating…Highly recommended’. * The Lady *‘Fascinating’ * Irish Independent *‘An irresistible little byway in 18th-century medical and social history’. * Oldie *‘An elegant and sensitive biography…du Preez and Dronfield have done Margaret Buckley and her alter ego proud in this absorbing book.’ * The Times *‘At each turn of this quite gripping biography I found myself gasping in disbelief…the excavations of Michael du Preez…and Jeremy Dronfield…have yielded startling new evidence about the period…Their research is authoritative and prodigious’. * Literary Review *‘This fantastic book is so much more than a biography of a very remarkable woman. The thread of her personal story weaves its way through a meticulously researched record of a fascinating period in world history…compulsive reading.’ -- Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick, first female President, Royal College of Physicians‘A cracking story’. -- Maggie Fergusson * Spectator *‘This is a fascinating account of the life and career of Dr James Barry as a doctor working in the early nineteenth century. Although Dr Barry obtained a Diploma from this College in 1813 it is only now through this book we are able to fully understand and recognise her achievements.’ -- Clare Marx, President, the Royal College of Surgeons of England‘I found the book immensely enjoyable. It’s a fascinating story, told with verve, sensitivity and skill – the result of an awe-inspiring amount of research and detective work, managed with delicacy and flair. I felt the book had a real feel for the times and I appreciated its firm historical grounding, and the way in which imagination and a rigorous approach to fact played so well together. A marvellous read, and a story worth telling.’ -- Rodney Bolt, author of The Impossible Life of Mary Benson‘This is the extraordinary and remarkable story of the transformation of Margaret Bulkley, a red-haired Irish girl from Cork, into Dr James Barry, physician, medical reformer, friend of the rich, friend of the poor and fearless and irascible scourge of the stupidity, complacency, ineptitude and greed of Britain’s Colonial establishment. Dr James Barry kept his great secret for over fifty years and the truth that he was, in fact, a woman was only revealed to an incredulous public after his death. Meticulously researched and written with great verve, this biography is about as good as it gets.’ -- Neil McKenna, author of Fanny & Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England'Extensively researched, a fascinating story of a woman taking extreme measures to work in a man’s world.’ -- Richard Hollingham, author of Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery

    4 in stock

    £11.39

  • Spitting Blood

    Oxford University Press Spitting Blood

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTuberculosis is characterized as a social disease and few have been more inextricably linked with human history. There is evidence from the archaeological record that Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its human hosts have been together for a very long time. The very mention of tuberculosis brings to mind romantic images of great literary figures pouring out their souls in creative works as their bodies were being decimated by consumption. It is a disease that at various times has had a certain glamour associated with it. From the medieval period to the modern day, Helen Bynum explores the history and development of tuberculosis throughout the world, touching on the various discoveries that have emerged about the disease over time, and focussing on the experimental approaches of Jean-Antoine Villemin (1827-92) and Robert Koch (1842-1910). Bynum also examines the place tuberculosis holds in the popular imagination and its role in various forms of the dramatic arts. The story of tuberculosisTrade ReviewThis is an ideal overview for the general reader that will also be of interest to historians. * Network Review, David Lorimer *Helen Bynum has written a book not only full of diverting asides but also of urgent importance. * Richard Horton, Guardian *Highly recommended. * M.L. Charleroy, CHOICE *Table of ContentsPrologue: George Orwell (1903-1950) ; 1. Ancient Bacteria, Old Diseases ; 2. All With 'A Touch of Consumption'? ; 3. Tubercles, Airs, Waters and Places ; 4. Consumption's Fashionistas ; 5. Consumption becomes Tuberculosis ; 6. Design for Living ; 7. Tuberculosis and the Health of the Race ; 8. Streptomycin & co ; 9. A Job Half Done ; Epilogue: 'There is no Dypraxa'

    1 in stock

    £12.34

  • Orion Publishing Co Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA world-renowned psychiatrist reveals the fascinating story of psychiatry's origins, demise and redemption. Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining 'lunatics' in cold cells and parading them as freakish marvels before a gaping public. But, as Jeffrey Lieberman reveals in his extraordinary and eye-opening book, the path to legitimacy for 'the black sheep of medicine' has been anything but smooth. In SHRINKS, Dr Lieberman traces the field from its birth as a mystic pseudo-science through its adolescence as a cult of 'shrinks' to its late blooming maturity since the Second World War as a science-driven profession that saves lives. With fascinating case studies and portraits of the luminaries of the field, from Sigmund Freud to Eric Kandel, SHRINKS is a gripping and illuminating read. It is also an urgent call-to-arms to dispel the stigma surrounding mental illness and to start treating it as a disease rather than a state of mind.Trade ReviewAs a retort to those that still believe there are no mental disorders, only diverse mentalities, Jeffrey Lieberman's historic and spirited defence of psychiatric diagnoses and treatments has much work to do ... This is a humane guide to psychiatry's internal conflicts and a candid account of its claims to scientific credibility -- Iain Finlayson * THE TIMES *Journeying through the history of psychiatry with Jeffrey A. Lieberman is not unlike being led by Voltaire's indomitable optimist, Professor Pangloss, through the seven years' war and the Lisbon earthquake ... [Lieberman is] a breezy, charming, and genial guide to a field fraught with difficulties ... [He is] an insider, with the kind of experience most professional historians cannot claim -- Lisa Appignanesi * THE OBSERVER *An informative book ... Given that the mind is a fragile faculty and the brain is a delicate organ, it is sobering to discover from his book what a haphazard discipline psychiatry was until the 1970s -- Jack Carrigan * CATHOLIC HERALD *SHRINKS is an excellent way into the world of modern psychiatry: its science, the limits and benefits of its diagnostic systems and treatments, how doctors make good decisions and why they make bad ones. SHRINKS is as thorough as it is lively -- Kay Redfield Jamison, author of AN UNQUIET MINDThe most authoritative exploration I have read of the state of contemporary psychiatry ... It is also the most hopeful. Jeffrey Lieberman's account of the scientific revolution in psychiatry - a revolution that he both participated in and helped to foster - is compelling. But it is his candour, lack of dogmatism, and sensitivity to suffering that will linger in your mind long after you've turned the last page -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A BEAUTIFUL MINDAn astonishing book: honest, sober, exciting, and humane. Lieberman writes with the authority of an expert, but with the humility of a doctor who has learned to treat the most profound and mysterious forms of mental illnesses ... This book brings you to the very forefront of one of the most amazing medical journeys of our time -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIESJeffrey Lieberman has produced a masterful behind-the-scenes examination of psychiatry and, by extension, the human condition. His epic narrative charts the unlikely ascent of "the stepchild of medicine" from the earliest parlor-room charlatans of animal magnetism to the contentious Digital Age roll-out of the DSM-5, paralleling Lieberman's own professional transformation from eager psychoanalytic student of Freud to neuroscience-minded president of a reformed American Psychiatric Association. A wise and gripping book that tackles one of the most important questions of our time: what is mental illness? -- Andrew Solomon, author of FAR FROM THE TREE and THE NOONDAY DEMONSHRINKS is an excellent way into the world of modern psychiatry: its science, the limits and benefits of its diagnostic systems and treatments, how doctors make good decisions and why they make bad ones. SHRINKS is as thorough as it is lively -- Kay Redfield Jamison, author of AN UNQUIET MINDThe most authoritative exploration I have read of the state of contemporary psychiatry ... It is also the most hopeful. Jeffrey Lieberman's account of the scientific revolution in psychiatry - a revolution that he both participated in and helped to foster - is compelling. But it is his candour, lack of dogmatism, and sensitivity to suffering that will linger in your mind long after you've turned the last page -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A BEAUTIFUL MINDAn authoritative, often inspiring account of progress in psychiatry, balanced by frank and admirable openness about the field's historical missteps -- Peter D. Kramer, author of LISTENING TO PROZAC and AGAINST DEPRESSIONSHRINKS is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of mental health care ... I've been a policy-maker and a patient for decades, yet there was much in here I never really understood before. And now that we have mental health parity, that understanding is more important than ever. A smart, important, accessible book -- Patrick J. Kennedy, former US congressman, founder of The Kennedy Forum, and co-founder of One MindOnly someone such as Jeffrey Lieberman ... has both the clinical and scientific vision to write a modern history of the evolution of psychiatry, from its primitive origins to its current promise for the future. This highly readable and fully accessible book puts the history of psychiatry into a modern perspective for the general reader -- Eric Kandel, University and Kavli Professor of Brain Science, Columbia University, and Nobel Prize winner for Medicine and Physiology 2000SHRINKS is a great read and is highly recommended. By combining clinical case histories and theoretical musings, it describes where psychiatry came from and where it is going. The author, a highly respected clinical, research, and academic psychiatrist and recent President of the American Psychiatric Association, does not hesitate to describe the soft underbelly of his profession "as it matured from a psychoanalytic cult of shrinks into a scientific medicine of the brain." Especially interesting are descriptions of the profession's meanderings into intellectual dead ends, from Wilhelm Reich to Thomas Szasz and Daniel Amen. Equally intriguing is the emergence of today's scientific psychiatry which, when practiced skillfully, can afford great relief for many psychiatric disorders -- E. Fuller Torrey, author of SURVIVING SCHIZOPHRENIA

    3 in stock

    £9.99

  • Can Onions Cure Ear-ache?: Medical Advice from

    Bodleian Library Can Onions Cure Ear-ache?: Medical Advice from

    Book SynopsisWhat common condition can be treated with cow dung? How do crushed oystershells ease heartburn? Can eels cure deafness? And how do you stop a stubborn case of the hiccups? If someone was struck down by illness or injury in the late eighteenth century, the chances are that they would have referred to William Buchan's Domestic Medicine – with the result that they might have found themselves drinking a broth made from sheep brain or administering drops of urine in their ears. The book’s author, a Scottish physician, published his self-help manual in 1769 specifically for the benefit of people who were unable readily to access or afford medical assistance. Copies could be found in coffee-houses, in apothecary shops and private households, and in 1789 Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers took the sensible precaution of grabbing the copy from HMS Bounty before they fled to Pitcairn Island. Much of Dr Buchan's advice on how to live a healthy life and avoid disease is still sound and relevant today, such as eating a varied and healthy diet, breathing plenty of fresh air, and taking exercise. Many of his prescriptions are amusing when viewed in retrospect, such as his fondness for powdered Spanish fly and genital trusses. Other recommendations – bleeding a woman experiencing a difficult childbirth or administering mercury to treat numerous ailments – were downright dangerous. This edited selection of entries from one of the first medical self-help manuals gives a fascinating insight into popular treatments of the eighteenth century, derived both from folklore and the emerging medical science of the day.Trade ReviewBuchan’s focus on family, the value of love, the destructive nature of anger and its management, child-care, diet and exer¬cise are all commendable – though why he, like other contemporaries, thought the night air was injurious is a mystery. -- Robert Winston'Buchan didn’t always achieve his aim of protecting the general public against “the destructive influences of Ignorance, Superstition and Quackery”. In fact some of his tips should come with a health warning…' * Sunday Express *

    £9.50

  • Doctoring the Mind

    Penguin Books Ltd Doctoring the Mind

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhy is the Western world''s treatment of mental illness so flawed? Who really benefits from psychiatry? And why would a patient in Nigeria have a much greater chance of recovery than one in the UK? In Doctoring the Mind, leading clinical psychologist Richard Bentall reveals the shocking truths behind the system of mental health care in the West. With a heavy dependence on pills and the profit they bring, psychiatry has been relying on myths and misunderstandings of madness for too long, and builds on methods which can often hinder rather than help the patient. Bentall argues passionately for a new future of mental health, one that considers the patient as an individual and redefines our understanding and treatment of madness for the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewBentall is one of psychiatry's most eloquent enemies . . . the drugs don't work * Sunday Times *It is the very balance of his approach that drives his opponents crazy . . . Passionate . . . a brave book * Observer *Bentall pulls no punches . . . his credentials ensure that his punches carry weight * Guardian *Paints a stark picture of a mental health system riddled with corruption and incompetence * The Times *Wonderful. Everyone personally or professionally concerned with mental health should read this . . . I dearly wish it could be put into the hands of the politicians and their advisors who make decisions about the life and rights of others * Hilary Mantel *At a time when dialogue in the presence of other human beings is becoming less and less available, this brave book gives a sense of why this could be disastrous * Salley Vickers, Observer *

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Golden Holocaust

    University of California Press Golden Holocaust

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe cigarette is the deadliest artifact in the history of human civilization. It is also one of the most beguiling, thanks to more than a century of manipulation at the hands of tobacco industry chemists. This title explores how the cigarette came to be the most widely-used drug on the planet, with six trillion sticks sold per year.Trade Review"Draws on previously confidential industry documents and Proctor's own experience as the first historian to testify in court about [industry] lies. What lies? How deep into the pleural linings did they go? All the way." Harper's Magazine "Lays out in head-shaking detail how a handful of companies painstakingly designed, produced, and mass-marketed the most lethal product on the planet." Mother Jones "[A] monumental and sobering indictment." Nature "Proctor documents a breadth and depth of the industry's duplicitous actions that is astounding." Science (AAAS) "A nearly 800-page book that begins as the Bible of the twentieth-century cigarette industry only to end as its millennial counterblaste." -- Joshua Cohen Harper's "Proctor challenges his readers to conceptualize a much happier and healthier world in which the manufacture and sale of cigarettes is prohibited." The Huffington Post "A landmark study in medicine and the history of science, and of an industry [Proctor] describes as 'evil.'" Toronto Globe & Mail "Proctor's extensive use of previously secret tobacco industry documents makes his case convincing, even compelling." -- Katherine E. Kenny Sociology/Science Studies, University of California San Diego Global Public Health "An invaluable reference for historians interested in the tobacco industry, health and medicine, or marketing in the twentieth century." -- Karen Miller Russell, University of Georgia Jrnl Of American History "A comprehensive and devastating account of tobacco industry perfidy in promoting the sale of its deadly cigarettes." -- Barron H. Lerner, New York University School of Medicine Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine "A historian's testimony on his own terms... Entertaining and hard-hitting." -- Carol Benedict, Georgetown University American Historical Review "Engaging, inexhaustible with information, and driven." Chronicle Of Higher Education "A passionate work and not for the faint of heart." American Journal Of Epidemiology "Proctor's book will be of great interest ... it debunks fraudulent industry claims past and present, provides credible arguments for banning cigarettes, and delineates steps to take before abolition is politically possible... For historians, Proctor's book particularly calls for serious conversation about ethics and best practices in our era of decreased public support of universities and rising dependence on corporate donors." -- Nan Enstad Journal of the History of MedicineTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Prologue Introduction: Who Knew What and When? PART ONE. The Triumph of the Cigarette 1. The Flue-Curing Revolution 2. Matches and Mechanization 3. War Likes Tobacco, Tobacco Likes War 4. Taxation:The Second Addiction 5. Marketing Genius Unleashed 6. Sponsoring Sports to Sell Smoke 7. Parties, the Arts, and Extreme Expeditions 8. Clouding the Web: Tobacco 2.0 PART TWO. Discovering the Cancer Hazard 9. Early Experimental Carcinogenesis 10. Roffo’s Foray and the Nazi Response 11. “Sold American”: Tobacco-Friendly Research at the Medical College of Virginia 12. A Most Feared Document: Claude E. Teague’s 1953 “Survey of Cancer Research” 13. “Silent Collaborators”: Clandestine Cancer Research Financed by Tobacco via the Damon Runyon Fund 14. Ecusta’s Experiments 15. Consensus, Hubris, and Duplicity PART THREE. Conspiracy on a Grand Scale 16. The Council for tobacco Research: Distraction Research, Decoy Research, Filibuster Research 17. Agnotology in Action 18. Measuring Ignorance: The Impact of Industry Disinformation on Popular Knowledge of Tobacco Hazards 19. Filter Flimflam 20. The Grand Fraud of Ventilation 21. Crack Nicotine: Freebasing to Augment a Cigarette’s “Kick” 22. The “Light Cigarette” Scam 23. Penetrating the Universities 24. Historians Join the Conspiracy PART FOUR. Radiant Filth and Redemption 25. What’s Actually in your Cigarette? 26. Radioactivity in Cigarette Smoke: “Three Mile Marlboro” and the Sleeping Giant 27. The Odd Business of Butts—and the Global Warming Wild Card 28. “Safer” Cigarettes? 29. Globalizing Death 30. What Must Be Done Notes Selected Bibliography Lexicon of Tobacco Industry Jargon Timeline of Global Tobacco Mergers and Acquisitions Timeline of Tobacco Industry Diversification into Candy, Food, Alcohol, and Other Products Acknowledgments Index

    1 in stock

    £30.60

  • The Matter of the Heart: A History of the Heart

    Vintage Publishing The Matter of the Heart: A History of the Heart

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis'Thrilling... The “dizzying” story of heart surgery is every bit as important as that of the nuclear, computer or rocket ages. And now it has been given the history it deserves' James McConnachie, Sunday TimesFor thousands of years the human heart remained the deepest of mysteries; both home to the soul and an organ too complex to touch, let alone operate on. Then, in the late nineteenth century, medics began going where no one had dared go before. In eleven landmark operations, Thomas Morris tells us stories of triumph, reckless bravery, swaggering arrogance, jealousy and rivalry, and incredible ingenuity, from the trail-blazing ‘blue baby’ procedure to the first human heart transplant. The Matter of the Heart gives us a view over the surgeon’s shoulder, showing us the heart’s inner workings and failings. It describes both a human story and a history of risk-taking that has ultimately saved millions of lives.Trade ReviewThrilling ... Significant and often immersive… The “dizzying” story of heart surgery is every bit as important as that of the nuclear, computer or rocket ages. And now it has been given the history it deserves -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *The research that has gone into this book is simply staggering, and Morris has achieved much more than a history of heart operations… It is a study of human beings driven by Olympian ambition and bottomless curiosity. It is, in the end, a book about wonder. And a wonderful book. -- Frances Wilson * Daily Telegraph, 5 stars ***** *Gripping... The Matter of the Heart details the breathtaking advances that have been made in the past 100 years. -- John Crace * Guardian *Thomas Morris has written not a history of medical ideas about the heart, but a history of heart surgery... The stories come quickly: fluent, wry, admiring ... Morris has made something unique: a history less of people than of procedures, but lively, enthusiastic and brimming with detail ... anything but boring. -- Gavin Francis * New Statesman *I recommend the book to all who are fascinated by the medical world...a thoroughly engaging history. * Wall Street Journal *Fascinating and compelling... There are also remarkable tales of survival against the odds perseverance, ingenuity and awe-inspiring feats... Morris deftly constructs an engaging narrative that covers a vast range of material -- Manjit Kumar * Literary Review *With the cut and thrust of cardiac surgery now demystified, we forget that venturing into the thoracic cavity once seemed as daunting as polar exploration. Or more so: as Thomas Morris reveals in this stirring chronicle, even touching a beating heart was long viewed as impossible… Told through 11 pivotal operations, it's a tale of ingenuity... It's rich, too, in alarming details — not least, the injections of strychnine and whisky that featured in early surgery -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *Thomas Morris does for the history of cardiac surgery what The Right Stuff and Hidden Figures did for the space race... The book is - appropriately - pulse-thumpingly gripping and will be enjoyed by anyone who, in any sense of the phrase, has a heart. -- Mark LawsonTremendous. An exhilarating sweep through ancient history and contemporary practice in surgery of the heart. It’s rich in extraordinary detail and stories that will amaze you. A wonderful book. -- Melvyn BraggStanding outside this precious and pressured world, Morris provides an even-handed and honest survey of the pioneers and their breakthroughs… intelligent -- Wendy Moore * The Times *

    3 in stock

    £11.69

  • A Scientific Revolution: Ten Men and Women Who

    Pegasus Books A Scientific Revolution: Ten Men and Women Who

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA prismatic examination of the evolution of medicine, from a trade to a science, through the exemplary lives of ten men and women.Johns Hopkins University, one of the preeminent medical schools in the nation today, has played a unique role in the history of medicine. When it first opened its doors in 1893, medicine was a rough-and-ready trade. It would soon evolve into a rigorous science. It was nothing short of a revolution. This transition might seem inevitable from our vantage point today. In recent years, medical science has mapped the human genome, deployed robotic tools to perform delicate surgeries, and developed effective vaccines against a host of deadly pathogens. But this transformation could not have happened without the game-changing vision, talent, and dedication of a small cadre of individuals who were willing to commit body and soul to the advancement of medical science, education, and treatment. A Scientific Revolution recounts the stories of John Shaw Billings, Max Brödel, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, William Halsted, Jesse Lazear, Dorothy Reed Mendenhall, William Osler, Helen Taussig, Vivien Thomas, and William Welch. This chorus of lives tells a compelling tale not just of their individual struggles, but how personal and societal issues went hand-in-hand with the advancement of medicine. Trade Review"The transformation of American medicine into the science-driven discipline we know today is largely attributable to a single institution, Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and to the women and men who breathed life into it. Their stories form the center of A Scientific Revolution, an uplifting collection of biographical vignettes by Hopkins pathologist Ralph Hruban and writer Will Linder. Dr. Hruban and Mr. Linder’s portraits capture an inflection point in American medicine: the ambition and excitement of it, the sense of moment experienced by those who were leading the revolution.” * The Wall Street Journal *"Ralph Hruban and Will Linder's history of medical advances through the lives of medical pioneers is a fascinating history that should be read by every American who enjoys the benefits of modern medicine. This is biological history at its best." -- Robert Dallek, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian"An enthralling and honest history of the first century of scientific medicine in the form of penetrating portraits of ten pioneers. Overcoming obstacles that included addiction, deafness, rampant sexism, vicious racism and hard-shelled tradition, the ten made possible the medicine of today. Their courage and resilience are a bracing example." -- Scott Shane, former New York Times reporter, author of Dismantling Utopia and Objective Troy and winner of the Pulitzer Prize"The legendary Johns Hopkins Hospital has finally found its bards; their names are Ralph Hruban and Will Linder… My prescription… is to turn the page and begin reading the sterling essays on the medical disrupters that follow. I am confident that all who do, will savor every chapter." -- From the Foreword, Howard Markel, MD, PhD, George E. Wantz, MD Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine and Director, Center for the History of Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical School"The names Edison, Einstein and Pasteur stand out as inventors, trailblazers and visionaries who changed our world. But in the field of medicine, there are other names we should know. Over a century ago, these ten men and women pioneered how doctors were trained, developed techniques for modern surgery, addressed hygiene issues, and more, all while making great personal sacrifices and enduring hardship. Together, their contributions were transformative. These engaging profiles by Ralph Hruban and Will Linder show how the collective impact of these four women and six men laid the foundation for today’s rigorous standards for patient care and clinical research." -- David Louie, Emmy Award winning Business & Technology Reporter, ABC7 News Bay Area, and past national chairman of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences"From the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions pioneered new procedures and treatments that put patients’ health, comfort, and safety foremost. Beginning with John Shaw Billings, who witnessed firsthand the horrors of Civil War medicine and who subsequently gave hospitals their first modern design, to Vivien Thomas, a son of enslaved people, who tolerated bitter racial discrimination while pioneering new procedures in heart surgery, here are ten compelling portraits of men and women engaged in a great scientific revolution." -- Ric Cottom, historian and host of WYPR’s “Your Maryland”“This book’s strength lies in the honesty of its storytelling. Hruban and Linder bring us into a world where institutional politics, sexism, and racism created severe barriers not only to health equity but to scientific accomplishment.”— -- Jon LaPook, MD, Chief Medical Correspondent, CBS News, Professor of Medicine, NYU Langone Health“Hruban and Linder's portraits form striking and accountable medical history that spotlights both discrimination and groundbreaking contributions, including those valiantly made by individuals who overcame prejudice and other obstacles.” * Booklist *

    1 in stock

    £18.70

  • Necropolis

    Harvard University Press Necropolis

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn antebellum New Orleans, whites and Blacks died in droves from yellow fever. But the fortunes of survivors were less equal. Kathryn Olivarius explores the resulting framework of immunocapital. For whites, immunity signaled creditworthiness. For enslaved Blacks, immunity enhanced their exploitability, relegating them to the harshest labor.Trade ReviewThis book is prescient for the questions it provokes about our experiences of COVID-19…Necropolis shows how elite white people exploited disease in this uniquely unhealthy space for their own personal gain…Olivarius’s new perspectives on yellow fever, immunocapitalism, and the politics of acclimation are a powerful addition to this important body of scholarship that will influence a generation of scholars to come on the intersections of racism, slavery, and public health. -- Richard M. Mizelle, Jr. * The Lancet *More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, the social, economic and political implications of public health crises are more apparent than ever—as is the fact that people of color and poorer communities often bear the brunt of these contagions’ consequences. [This] new analysis of yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans highlights striking parallels with the ongoing pandemic. -- Karin Wulf * Smithsonian *Olivarius’s account is rich in thick descriptions of this fevered environment. She adeptly resurrects voices not just from elite men but from women, the impoverished, and even from former slaves…An excellent reconsideration of the impact of yellow fever on a major southern trading port in the antebellum era. -- Margaret Humphreys * Civil War Book Review *Necropolis makes a compelling argument for the near-determinative nature of disease in antebellum New Orleans…It is also hard to imagine [a book] more thought-provoking or more appropriate as a mirror to our current moment. Thus, Necropolis will stimulate all readers—as much the general public as students of medical history, American slavery, capitalism, or the South writ large. -- Robert Colby * H-Net Reviews *Necropolis offers revelatory insights into how capitalism controls responses to disease, and how disease exacerbates inequalities, arguments that feel particularly prescient in the midst of an ongoing coronavirus pandemic…An engrossing and timely work of scholarship. -- Kevin McQueeney * Journal of Southern History *Olivarius puts a rich trove of primary sources to good use, lending the volume authenticity in its arguments and engaging readability while demonstrating the lengths to which New Orleans residents went to preserve the cyclical epidemic status quo, which preserved Creole dominance and limited the success of American and European immigrants. * Choice *Captivating…Olivarius illuminates the complex workings of ‘immunocapitalism’ and paints a vivid picture of antebellum New Orleans. This is a timely and thought-provoking look at how disease outbreaks have exacerbated inequality in America. * Publishers Weekly *A brilliant book. Olivarius’s insightful reading of sources and beautiful writing give us a new and important way to think about slavery, race, health, and hierarchy. This transformative work is a pivotal addition to the scholarship on American slavery. -- Annette Gordon-Reed, author of On JuneteenthOlivarius delivers a stunning account of ‘high-risk, high-reward’ profiteering in the yellow fever–ridden Crescent City. Nineteenth-century New Orleans appears as a world in which a deadly virus altered every aspect of a brutal social system, exacerbating savage inequalities of enslavement, race, and class—inequalities that will have readers pondering the choices we make as a society in epidemics of our own. -- John Fabian Witt, author of American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19A real page-turner. Necropolis propels the reader along, not least because the parallels to our coronavirus pandemic are impossible to ignore. Olivarius is convincing in her argument that disease was an important way to wield power—political, economic, and racial. This fresh, beautifully written book makes original contributions to the literatures on medicine, capitalism, politics, and welfare. -- Leslie M. Harris, author of In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626–1863In flowing prose, Olivarius offers an intriguing account of the systematic relationship between yellow fever and power in nineteenth-century New Orleans. Her innovative term ‘immunocapitalism’ brings together multiple threads to show the ways in which yellow fever was not simply a natural phenomenon, no matter how much those who profited because of its inequitable impact tried to naturalize it. Deeply researched, extremely well written, and provocatively argued, Necropolis is a rich and fascinating book. -- Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American CapitalismThe remarkable thing about Necropolis is that its subject has been hiding in plain sight all along. In nineteenth-century New Orleans, yellow fever was more than an episodic worry; it saturated everyday consciousness, splitting the world between those who had gained immunity and those who had not. No effort was spared to prove that the scourge’s supposedly deterministic properties not only necessitated African enslavement, but also produced the foreign exchange that kept the urban economy humming. Olivarius unpacks this story with skill and feeling in a book of truly impressive research and scope. -- Lawrence N. Powell, author of The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans

    1 in stock

    £23.21

  • Final Witness: The Story of China’s First Crime

    ACA Publishing Limited Final Witness: The Story of China’s First Crime

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThirteenth century China, and the Song Empire is crumbling due to endemic corruption and the incursion of barbarians from abroad. Ambitious men do what they must to get ahead, trampling the commoners who come in their path. Into the decaying ranks of the civil service, a young scholar called Song Ci is admitted. He soon gets the chance to prove his worth by developing an unmatched skill for interpreting crime scenes. In a series of complex murder cases that baffled his predecessors, Song is finally able to dispense justice to the relatives of those whose lives have been lost in the chaos.As the world he knows wanes, Song will be pitted against increasing dangers that will tax him to the edge of his abilities. But will his efforts be enough to save the empire?

    1 in stock

    £15.29

  • The Oxford Handbook of Disability History

    Oxford University Press The Oxford Handbook of Disability History

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDisability history exists outside of the institutions, healers, and treatments it often brings to mind. It is a history where the disabled live not just as patients or cure-seekers, but rather as people living differently in the world--and it is also a history that helps define the fundamental concepts of identity, community, citizenship, and normality. The Oxford Handbook of Disability History is the first volume of its kind to represent this history and its global scale, from ancient Greece to British West Africa. The twenty-seven articles, written by thirty experts from across the field, capture the diversity and liveliness of this emerging scholarship. Whether discussing disability in modern Chinese cinema or on the American antebellum stage, this collection provides new and valuable insights into the rich and varied lives of the disabled across time and place.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Contributors Introduction Michael Rembis, Catherine J. Kudlick, and Kim E. Nielsen Part I. CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS 1. The Perils and Promises of Disability Biography Kim E. Nielsen 2. Disability History and Greco-Roman Antiquity C.F. Goodey and M. Lynn Rose 3. Intellectual Disability in the European Middle Ages Irina Metzler 4. Disability in the Pre-modern Arab World Sara Scalenghe 5. Disability and the History of Eugenics Michael Rembis 6. Social History of Medicine and Disability History Catherine J. Kudlick 7. Material Culture, Technology, and the Body in Disability History Katherine Ott 8. Designing Objects and Spaces: A Modern Disability History Bess Williamson 9. Documents, Ethics, and the Disability Historian Penny Richards and Susan Burch Part II. WORK 10. Disability and Work during the Industrial Revolution in Britain Daniel Blackie 11. Disability and Work in South Asia and the United Kingdom Jane Buckingham 12. Disability and Work in British West Africa Jeff Grischow 13. Race, Work, and Disability in Progressive Era United States Paul Lawrie 14. Organized Labor and Disability in Post-World War II United States Audra Jennings Part III. INSTITUTIONS 15. Deaf-blindness and the Institutionalization of Special Education in Nineteenth-Century Europe Pieter Vierestraete and Ylva Söderfeldt 16. Disability and Madness in Colonial Asylum Records in Australia and New Zealand Catharine Coleborne 17. Madness, Transnationalism, and Emotions in Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Australia and New Zealand Angela McCarthy 18. Institutions for People with Disabilities in North America Steven Noll Part IV. REPRESENTATIONS 19. Picturing Disability in Eighteenth-Century England David M. Turner 20. Disability, Race, and Gender on the United States Antebellum Stage Jenifer L. Barclay 21. Polio and Disability in Cold War Hungary Dora Vargha 22. Monstrous Births, Birth Defects, Unusual Anatomy, and Disability in Europe and North America Leslie J. Reagan 23. Disability in Modern Chinese Cinema Steven L. Riep Part V. MOVEMENTS AND IDENTITIES 24. Transnational Interconnections in Nineteenth Century Western Deaf Communities Joseph J. Murray 25. The Disability Rights Movement in the United States Lindsey Patterson 26. The Rise of Gay Rights and the Disavowal of Disability in the United States Regina Kunzel 27. Disabled Veterans and the Wounds of War David A. Gerber Index

    1 in stock

    £137.50

  • Still Not Safe

    Oxford University Press Inc Still Not Safe

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis quality book clearly demonstrates that, in order to solve a complex problem, one must look at it from multiple perspectives. It will take a number of combined initiatives to drive the change needed to move forward in the reduction of medical errors, as the field has been stagnant for over two decades with the ideas currently in place. * Blair A Hebner, Doody's Reviews *Reading Still Not Safe is like talking with Wears and Sutcliffe as they share honest, and at times dark, truths of the patient safety movement, while instilling a desire to continue this vital work. Read the book and reflect on your role in improving the safety of patient care. * Pascale Carayon, PhD, Procter & Gamble Bascom Professor in Total Quality, University of Wisconsin, Madison *This extraordinary book is guaranteed to transform your thinking, whether you are a healthcare professional, a social scientist, or an ordinary citizen wanting to understand how good intentions get subverted - and why simple solutions, however appealing, should be regarded with suspicion. * Gary Klein, PhD, CEO, ShadowBox LLC *An incisive lament and reflection on the early promise and subsequent waning of patient safety. But also a hopeful vision of a return to safety science, a deeper understanding of clinical work, and the potential for safer healthcare. A wonderful gift. * Charles Vincent, PhD, Director, Oxford Healthcare Improvement *This important and controversial book argues that the field of patient safety has stalled out because it has become insular, bureaucratic, and overly medicalized. Agree or disagree, Still Not Safe s an important contribution to the literature and will cause readers to look at the field of patient safety with a refreshing new perspective. * Robert M. Wachter, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; author of The Digital Doctor and Understanding Patient Safety *This quality book clearly demonstrates that, in order to solve a complex problem, one must look at it from multiple perspectives. It will take a number of combined initiatives to drive the change needed to move forward in the reduction of medical errors, as the field has been stagnant for over two decades with the ideas currently in place. * Doody's Reviews *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Part I: The Rise of Patient Safety 1. Setting the Stage 2. Beginnings 3. Rationalizing Health Care: Scientific-Bureaucratic Medicine 4. The Special Case of Anesthesia 5. Three Views of 'Human Error' 6. Halting Steps: Early Work on Patient Safety 7. Pressure Builds for Reform Part II: The Reign of Patient Safety 8. Irruption 9. Institutionalization 10. Consolidation and Stagnation Part III: The Waning of Patient Safety 11. Reflections 12. The Future of Patient Safety Afterword Glossary Bibliography

    1 in stock

    £26.99

  • Oxford University Press Inc Meeting the Challenge Top Women in Science

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis book is accompanied by a comprehensive index and is a fascinating collection of portraits and vignettes of female scientists...Reading about their lives and achievements and contributions to humanity is both a humbling and educational experience. * Arpan K. Banerjee, Hektoen International *Table of ContentsForeword (by Eszter Hargittai) Preface Acknowledgments 1 Astronomers Sophia Brahe Maria Cunitz Elisabetha Hevelius Maria Kirch Caroline Herschel Mary Somerville Maria Mitchell Williamina Fleming and the Women of the Harvard Observatory Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin Nancy Grace Roman Vera C. Rubin Jocelyn Bell Burnell France A. Cordova Andrea M. Ghez 2 Mathematicians Elena Cornaro Piscopia Laura Bassi Maria Gaetana Agnesi Ada Lovelace Sonia Kovalevsky Mileva Mari'c-Einstein Emmy Noether Rózsa Péter Kathleen Ollerenshaw Mary Winston Jackson Karen K. Uhlenbeck Maryam Mirzakhani 3 Physicists The Loneliness of the Woman Physicist The Radium Institute Elisabeth Rona Marietta Blau Elisaveta Karamichailova Berta Karlik Marie Curie Isabella Stone Harriet Brooks Lise Meitner Leona Marshall Libby Maria Goeppert Mayer Antonia F. Prikhotko Chien-Shiung Wu Ruby Payne-Scott and other Australian Female Physicists Rosalyn Yalow Mildred Dresselhaus Donna T. Strickland 4 Crystallographers Kathleen Lonsdale Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Rosalind Franklin Isabella Karle Pioneers of Data Banks - Barbara Mez-Starck - Olga Kennard Ada Yonath Carolina H. MacGillavry and M.C. Escher Agnes Csanady and Quasicrystals 5 Chemists and Biochemists Gerty Cori Alice Ball Ida Noddack Irène Joliot-Curie Klavdia V. Topchieva Mildred Cohn Gertrude B. Elion Maxine F. Singer Elena G. Galpern Paula Hammond Jennifer A. Doudna and Emanuelle M. Charpentier Lynne E. Maquat Joan A. Steitz Katalin Karikó 6 Biologists and Biomedical Scientists Zinaida V. Ermoleva Barbara McClintock Aleksandra A. Prokofieva-Belgovskaya Rita Levi-Montalcini Frances O. Kelsey Anne McLaren Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Linda B. Buck Françoise Barré-Sinoussi Barbara M.F. Pearse Elizabeth H. Blackburn Carol W. Greider May-Britt Moser 7 Physicians, Surgeons, and Nurses Elizabeth Blackwell Rebecca Lee Crumpler Rebecca Cole Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson Louisa Brandbeth Aldrich-Blake Florence R. Sabin The Moscow Higher Courses for Women Lina S. Stern Medicine Women in London - Annie McCall - Jane Harriet Walker - Elsie Inglis - Lilian Lindsay - Ida Mann - Sheila Sherlock - Margaret Turner-Warwick - Cicely Saunders - Melanie Klein - Anna Freund - Enid Balint - Nancy Rothwell Nurses - Florence Nightingale - Mary Seacole - Theodora Turner 8 Inventors and Technologists Hertha Ayrton Kathrine Blodgett Pioneers in Aviation and Space Travel - Amelia M. Earhart - Amy Johnson - Valentina V. Tereshkova - Svetlana E. Savitskaya - Sally K. Ride - Judith A. Resnik - Kathryn D. Sullivan Frances H. Arnold 9 Ecologists Rachel Carson Miriam Rothschild Ayhan Ulubelen Chulabhorn Mahidol Jane Morris Goodall and Other Primatologists YouYou Tu Notes Name Index

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • The Eleventh Plague Jews and Pandemics from the

    Oxford University Press Inc The Eleventh Plague Jews and Pandemics from the

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA physician and historian of science and medicine at the National Institute of Health tells the hidden story of how plagues and pandemics shaped the history of the Jewish people.Plagues, pandemics, and infectious diseases have shaped the history of the Jewish people. Of course, there were the ten biblical plagues that famously smote the Egyptians--from the rain of frogs to the deaths of the firstborn--but that is just the start of the story. For the Talmudic Sages infectious diseases were part of the fundamental fabric of God''s created world. In later times, however, disease was often thought to be caused by malign spells and incantations. A counter-magic developed to combat them. Amulets were deployed and miracle workers sought out. Surprisingly, Jeremy Brown shows, Jews sometimes even visited Christian shrines and beseeched the intervention of their saints. In 1348, when the Black Death swept through Europe, Jews fell victim both to the disease, for which they were blamed, and to the anti-Semitic violence that followed. At least 235 Jewish communities were persecuted even as Pope Clement IV ruled that anyone joining or authorizing the persecution would be excommunicated. In The Eleventh Plague, Brown investigates the relation between Judaism and infectious diseases throughout the ages, from premodern and early-modern plagues, to rabbinic responses to smallpox and cholera, to the special vulnerabilities Jewish immigrants faced in the US as result of prejudice, and to the curious practice of Black Weddings in which two orphans are married in a cemetery. Popularized during the 1918 influenza pandemic the practice was revived in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, showing that the intriguing relationship between Judaism and infectious disease remains relevant today.Trade ReviewJeremy Brown's The Eleventh Plague is a monumental contribution to both the history of pandemics and to Jewish (medical) history. The content and staggering breadth of sources alone are well worth the purchase, but Jeremy's literary flair serves to elevate the reading experience. This book provides a much needed historical perspective that has been missing from our current pandemic discourse. * Rabbi Edward Reichman, MD, author of The Anatomy of Jewish Law: A Fresh Dissection of the Relationship Between Medicine, Medical History and Rabbinic Literature *With astonishing learning that embraces Jewish, non-Jewish and medical sources, Jeremy Brown demonstrates that Jewish life has been shaped and reshaped by pandemics from biblical days to our own. Anyone looking for context on Covid-19 and the Jewish community should start with this book. * Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University; Chief Historian, The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History *In this expansive and sweeping volume, Brown takes readers on a spellbinding tour of the myriad ways that Jews have responded to plagues. Beginning with the world of the biblical Israelites and closing with an analysis of Jewish encounters with Covid-19, Brown debunks persistent misrepresentations of Jews as perpetuators of disease and embodiments of suffering. Brown's erudition and passion for his subject shimmers on every page, and his lucid style offers surprise and insight at every turn. * Malka Z. Simkovich, author of Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism. *In The Eleventh Plague: Jews and Pandemics, Jeremy Brown presents a pathbreaking study of how Jews have reacted to, been blamed for, and religiously framed pandemics...All those interested in Jewish history, the history of science, and general readers looking for the definitive take on a timely, and unfortunately (because of its morose subject matter) timeless topic need look no further than Brown's fascinating study. * Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern, YU News *This is a timely masterpiece. * Choice *Table of Contents1. Five Golden Swellings; Pandemics in the Bible 2. The Angel of Death Walks in the Middle of the Road; Pandemics in the Talmud 3. A World Turned Upside Down; The Black Death and Bubonic Plague 4. All This Happens because of the Sins of Jacob 5. Pulverized Toads; Prayers, amulets and miracle workers 6. A Leaf of Healing; Smallpox, vaccination and hope 7. Your hand lay heavily on the inhabitants of this land; Cholera 8. Our Father Our King, Save us from this Plague; Religious responses to epidemics 9. Proper Precautions; The Jewish immigrant as a carrier of disease 10. So They Will Not Be Depressed; The Black Wedding 11. A Pandemic of Ignorance: Vaccination, hysteria and rabbinic responsibility 12. Jews and Judaism in the age of COVID 13. Conclusions

    1 in stock

    £27.99

  • Conquest of Invisible Enemies A Human History of

    Oxford University Press Inc Conquest of Invisible Enemies A Human History of

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn his latest book, science writer and medicinal chemist Jie Jack Li guides readers through the history of viruses, vaccines, and antiviral drugs. Li chronicles the discovery and treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, influenza, and coronaviruses. Throughout, Li focuses on how viruses have shaped human history and on the individuals who developed treatments.Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1. Virus Shaping History and Discovery of Virus 1.1 Virus shaping history 1.1.1 Tulipomania: bubbles of bulbs 1.1.2 The fall of old Mexico and Peru 1.1.3 Succession of thrones 1.1.4 The Louisiana Purchase 1.2 Discovery of virus 1.2.1 The gem theory 1.2.2 Discovery of virus 1.2.3 Cancer-causing viruses 1.2.4 Discovery of retrovirus Chapter 2. HIV/AIDS Drugs, Transforming a Death Sentence to a Chronic Disease 2.1 Discovery of the virus 2.1.1 A death sentence 2.1.2 Discovery of HIV and the great scientific controversy 2.1.3 The Nobel Prize 2.2 The first ray of hope 2.2.1 Nucleoside antiviral drugs 2.2.2 Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors 2.3 HIV protease inhibitors 2.3.1 HIV protease 2.3.2 First-generation HIV protease inhibitors 2.3.3 Second-generation HIV protease inhibitors 2.4 HIV integrase inhibitors 2.5 HIV Entry Inhibitors 2.5.1 HIV fusion inhibitors 2.5.2 CCR5 inhibitors 2.6 Triumph of modern medicine Chapter 3. Hepatitis Drugs 3.1 Hepatitis A virus 3.1.1 Discovery of hepatitis A virus 3.1.2 Hepatitis A vaccines 3.2 Hepatitis B virus 3.2.1 Discovery of hepatitis B virus 3.2.2 Hepatitis B vaccines 3.2.3 Hepatitis B drugs 3.3 Hepatitis C virus 3.3.1 Discovery of Hepatitis C virus 3.3.2 Hepatitis C virus NS3/4A protease inhibitors 3.3.3 Hepatitis C virus NS5A replication complex inhibitors 3.3.4 Hepatitis C virus NS5B polymerase inhibitors 3.4 Triumph of modern medicines Chapter 4. Influenza: A Perennial Killer 4.1 Influenza, a perennial killer 4.2 A virus that changed the world: the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic 4.3 Discovery of the influenza virus 4.4 Influenza vaccines 4.4.1 History of vaccination 4.4.2 History of influenza vaccines 4.4.3 Influenza vaccines today 4.5 Influenza drugs 4.5.1 M2 inhibitors 4.5.2 Influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitors 4.5.3 Cap-dependent endonuclease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribonuclease inhibitor Chapter 5. Coronaviruses 5.1 Coronavirus Drugs 5.1.1. SARS 5.1.2. MARS 5.1.3. SARS-CoV-2 5.2 COVID-19 Vaccines 5.2.1. Pfizer/Biotech's mRNA vaccine 5.2.2. Johnson & Johnson's viral vector vaccine 5.3 COVID-19 Drugs 5.3.1. Remdesivir (Veklury) 5.3.2. Dexamethasone Chapter 6. Closing Remarks Bibliography Chemical Structures of Antiviral Drugs

    1 in stock

    £27.99

  • Your Money or Your Life

    Oxford University Press Inc Your Money or Your Life

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA riveting exposé of medical debt collection in America and the profound financial and physical costs eroding patient trust in medicineFor the crime of falling sick without wealth, Americans today face lawsuits, wage garnishment, home foreclosure, and even jail time.Yet who really profits from aggressive medical debt collection? And how does this predatory system affect patients and doctors responsible for their care?Your Money or Your Life reveals how medical debt collection became a multibillion-dollar industry and how everyday Americans are made to pay the price. Emergency physician and historian Luke Messac weaves patient stories into a history of law, finance, and medicine to show how debt and debt collection are destroying the foundational trust between doctors and patients at the heart of American healthcare. The fight to stop aggressive collection tactics has brought together people from all corners of the political spectrum. But if we want to better protect the sick from finaTrade ReviewThe German word for debt is the same word for guilt. But you don't have to be German to be a guilty debtor in the United States, where the sin of being ill and poor is discharged by indentured labor and the harassment of the debt collector. Luke Messac takes us on a tour of the underbelly of America's hospitals and their horrific debt practices. If there's one country where you don't want to be both poor and ill, it's the United States. * Mark Blyth, The William R. Rhodes '57 Professor of International Economics, The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University *A crystal-clear critique of the travesty of profit-driven US medicine by a historian drawing on archives, oral history, public records, and his own ethnographic experience as a doctor delivering emergency care medicine for a typically predatory 'non-profit hospital' that bankrupts its poorest, most vulnerable patients. All medical students should read this book to prevent themselves from inadvertently becoming cogs in a monstrous wheel that indebts their lowest income patients. * Philippe Bourgois, Author of In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio and Co-Author of Righteous Dopefiend *In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impetus for transforming the American health care system is more urgent than ever. Doctor and historian Luke Messac shows how the system has been warped by growing financialization and profiteering, with disastrous consequences for the millions of people struggling with medical debt. Both infuriating and illuminating, he paints a portrait too compelling to ignore. * Dave A. Chokshi, 43rd Health Commissioner of New York City *Your Money or Your Life offers a rare, deeply powerful, and impressively original look at the roots of medical greed and how and why health care debt is driving down the health of our nation. This book is a passionate and inspiring expression of the importance of empowering community leaders and their residents to advocate for affordable, accessible, and equitable health care before it's too late. It provides the roadmap, now it's up to all of us to heed the charge. * Daniel E. Dawes, Author of The Political Determinants of Health *Usually, doctors keep themselves aloof from their patients' financial troubles, but not Luke Messac. Your Money or Your Life shows how medical debt and the fear of debt decimate family finances and prevent sick people from seeking needed care. Dr. Messac, a historian and emergency physician, is one of our most important critics of the US health system. His voice is engaging and compassionate, and we must listen. * Beatrix Hoffman, Professor of History, Northern Illinois University and Author of The Wages of Sickness and Health Care for Some *In Your Money or Your Life, Luke Messac weaves together the compelling, and true, story of how medical debt collection became so aggressive and its real-world impact. Taking readers on a remarkable - and eminently readable - journey through the history and practice of medical debt collection...this great book demonstrates how these events are not aberrations or one-off errors in judgment, but baked into the design of American health care and the institutions that profit from the sidelines. Dr. Messac's book proves that it will take more than occasional finger wagging or modest reforms around the edges to ensure that patients and doctors are no longer debtors and creditors. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, should read Your Money or Your Life. * Melissa B. Jacoby, Graham Kenan Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill *In Your Money or Your Life, Dr. Messac provides a piercing and must-read investigation into how medical debt came to be such a powerful and grim force in American medicine. To create change for the millions of American families beset by the financial toxicity of our health care system, we must learn from this difficult history. * Victor Roy, Physician, Sociologist, and Author of Capitalizing a Cure: How Finance Controls the Price and Value of Medicines *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Before the Debt Machine Chapter 2: No Mercy Chapter 3: Trading in Misery Chapter 4: Shame Chapter 5: My Day in Court Chapter 6: An Incomplete Answer Chapter 7: From Here Conclusion

    1 in stock

    £21.99

  • The Origin and Development of Genetic Therapies

    Oxford University Press The Origin and Development of Genetic Therapies

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom the discoveries of the principles of genetic inheritance in the 19th century to the development of the concepts of human molecular genetic disease in the 20th century, the treatment of human disease has been transformed from a focus on symptoms to the goal of correcting underlying genetic defects which are the cause of many human diseases. Here, Theodore Friedmann shows that this scientific revolution in medicine compares in importance to Copernicus''s demonstration of the sun-centered order of the planetary system, the 18th and 19th century discoveries of the cellular structure of living systems, germ theory of disease, the invention of anaesthesia, and the discovery that genetic information is stored and transmitted by DNA. The Origin and Development of Genetic Therapies explores the origins and early developmental history of the medical field of gene therapy. Friedmann examines the early failures and increasingly promising clinical successes for this new approach to cure genetic disease and explores how the concepts of gene therapy can affect human hereditary and human evolution.

    1 in stock

    £37.04

  • The Smile Revolution In Eighteenth Century Paris

    Oxford University Press The Smile Revolution In Eighteenth Century Paris

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisYou could be forgiven for thinking that the smile has no history; it has always been the same. However, just as different cultures in our own day have different rules about smiling, so did different societies in the past. In fact, amazing as it might seem, it was only in late eighteenth century France that western civilization discovered the art of the smile. In the ''Old Regime of Teeth'' which prevailed in western Europe until then, smiling was quite literally frowned upon. Individuals were fatalistic about tooth loss, and their open mouths would often have been visually repulsive. Rules of conduct dating back to Antiquity disapproved of the opening of the mouth to express feelings in most social situations. Open and unrestrained smiling was associated with the impolite lower orders. In late eighteenth-century Paris, however, these age-old conventions changed, reflecting broader transformations in the way people expressed their feelings. This allowed the emergence of the modern smile par excellence: the open-mouthed smile which, while highlighting physical beauty and expressing individual identity, revealed white teeth. It was a transformation linked to changing patterns of politeness, new ideals of sensibility, shifts in styles of self-presentation - and, not least, the emergence of scientific dentistry. These changes seemed to usher in a revolution, a revolution in smiling. Yet if the French revolutionaries initially went about their business with a smile on their faces, the Reign of Terror soon wiped it off. Only in the twentieth century would the white-tooth smile re-emerge as an accepted model of self-presentation. In this entertaining, absorbing, and highly original work of cultural history, Colin Jones ranges from the history of art, literature, and culture to the history of science, medicine, and dentistry, to tell a unique and untold story about a facial expression at the heart of western civilization.Trade ReviewColin Jones knows as much about eighteenth century France as any man alive, and in this study he brings together his prodigious learning and robust curiosity to produce a book that should bring a smile to even the most sullen scholarly face ... Jones tells [his] tale with tremendous insight and wit, drawing on his knowledge of an astonishing array of disciplines and sub-disciplines, from the history of medicine to the history of art. * Darrin M. McMahon, American Historical Review *A tour de force ... Tullett's book is a really successful social and cultural history. * Karen Harvey, author of The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder *... the book... is, among other things, a secret history of dentistry and, because of Jones's wit and erudition, one simply can't imagine the topic being more fascinatingly handled. * Spear's *...entertaining and highly readable * Network Review, David Lorimer *an important contribution to the history of medicine as well as the history of the emotions...It is immensely readable * Reviews in History, Dr Jennifer Wallis *The most intriguing sections of Jones's book examine the establishment of dentistry as a medical science and respectable profession in the 18th century. * Jonathan Beckman, London Review of Books *highly readable, intelligent, unpretentious and even mischievous book... Jones's ingenious and puckish book, poised between high culture and pop psychology, is both entertaining and informative * TLS, Patrice Higonnet *Politics, literature, dentistry and art are wrapped up in a brilliant piece of scholarship. * Michael Prodger, Book of the Year 2014, New Statesman *fascinating exploration * Mary Beard, The Spectator *Fascinating book * The Good Book Guide *It is, in short, an inspiring work by a master of the field. * Anna Jenkin, French History *A combination of impressive learning and entertaining wit * Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books *In just 180 pages, Jones manages to be brilliant about painting, French literature and history, the sociology of emotional expression, and the hucksterish early history of the dental profession. * The Slate, Books of the Year *The most original approach to history in years ... [Colin Jones] had written one of the most absorbing and unusual history books imaginable * Michael Prodger, Sunday Times *immensely readable * The Connexion *The subject of Jones's book may seem recondite, but it is a fascinating mouthful. In mixing dental minutiae, sweeping social history and vivid detail to show why the smile was no laughing matter but something both mutable and meaningful he has written one of the most absorbing and unusual history books imaginable. * Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times *compelling Cheshire cat of a book * Kathryn Hughes, Guardian *ingenious and puckish book * Patrice Higonnet, Times Literary Supplement *a marvellous, engaging and constantly enlightening study * John Brewer, Literary Review *The Smile Revolution is an education and an entertainment ... Colin Jones drills into his subject with wit, clarity and a fine theatrical flourish. * James Hamilton, The Times *The intriguing untold story of how we learned to smile. * The Bookseller *You will never look at an eighteenth-century portrait in the same way after you read these pages so filled with verve, wit, and insight. Colin Jones accomplishes the extraordinary feat of changing our view of the ordinary by showing us how teeth, smiles and laughing all gained profound significance. * Lynn Hunt, author of Inventing Human Rights. *Readers of this witty, engaging study, which wears its wide-ranging scholarship lightly, will certainly find it impossible to keep a straight face. * Malcolm Crook, History *It is a joy to read ... The book is innovative and interdisciplinary in the extreme, combing social, cultural, economic, political and medical history in such a way as to make connections appear entirely natural, and bringing such traditional fields together with the new methodologies of the history of the emotions. It is, in short, an inspiring work by a master of the field. * Anna Jenkin, French History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The Old Regime of Teeth 2: The Smile of Sensibility 3: Cometh the Dentist 4: The Making of a Revolution 5: The Transient Smile Revolution 6: Beyond the Smile Revolution Postscript: Towards the Twentieth-Century Smile Revolution Notes Index

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Oxford University Press The Cancer Problem

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThe Cancer Problem offers the first medical, cultural, and social history of cancer in nineteenth-century Britain. It begins by looking at a community of doctors and patients who lived and worked in the streets surrounding the Middlesex Hospital in London. It follows in their footsteps as they walked the labyrinthine lanes and passages that branched off Tottenham Court Road; then, through seven chapters, its focus expands to successively include the rivers, lakes, and forests of England, the mountains, poverty, and hunger of the four nations of the British Isles, the reluctant and resistant inhabitants of the British Empire, and the networks of scientists and doctors spread across Europe and North America.The Cancer Problem: Malignancy in Nineteenth-Century Britain argues that it was in the nineteenth century that cancer acquired the unique emotional, symbolic, and politicized status it maintains today. Through an interrogation of the construction, deployment, and emotional consequenceTrade ReviewThis comprehensive and meticulously researched book will provide an excellent reference guide for academic research, at the same time it is a book that the general reader with an interest in the social and cultural history of medicine will find accessible and absorbing. * Kathleen Beal, British Association for Victorian Studies *The Cancer Problem offers an excellent, well-researched, and often surprising history of this disease and the professionalization surrounding it. There have been few historical studies of cancer in the nineteenth century, and every chapter of The Cancer Problem offers original insights. * Pamela K. Gilbert, Journal of British Studies *The book will be welcomed by historians of Britain, scholars interested in cross-cultural studies, and historians of medicine and science. * Choice *It would not surprise me if this monograph is still considered a seminal study in decades to come due to its high quality and breaking of new academic ground. * Ian Miller, Ulster University *This book is certainly an important addition to the historiography of cancer, as it treads the fields of both cultural history and the more traditional history of medicine and science. Indeed, this book will be an important addition to historians studying the history of cancer, but it should likewise be of interest to a variety of scholars studying broader topics in medical history, the history of science, or the cultural and social history of England. * Dimitry Zakharov, Canadian Journal of Health History *

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Ivan Pavlov

    Oxford University Press Inc Ivan Pavlov

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis is the first scholarly biography of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) in any language. Based upon a wealth of archival material, it weaves his life and science into some 100 years of Russian history and offers a fundamental reinterpretation of his scientific style and his famous research on conditional reflexes.Trade ReviewA shining example of an academic biography. * Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History *Well written, thoroughly researched and extremely readable, the cost represents good value for money and Ivan Pavlov: A Russian Life in Science deserves a place on all good library shelves. * Sue Howarth, The Biologist *magisterial biography * London Review of Books *David Todes has spent more then twenty years with his subject, and has evidently approached his task with the same dedication that Pavlov kept up through his many decades in the lab. Tode's sources range from the whimsical and self-revealing "journal" with which Pavlov wooed his future wife in 1879 to NKVD surveillance reports on his mood more than half a century later, from documents on the student Pavlov's very first research into nervous control of the organs to taped interviews with his co-workers several decades after his death. The result is history of science at its intricate best. * Stephen Lovell, The Times Literary Supplement *Ivan Pavlov: A Russian Life in Science Science is an exceptional scientific biography, but it is also a vivid portrait of its time and place. Todes wears his exhaustive research lightly, never burdening the reader with unnecessary or undigested detail. Unlike Pavlov's dogs, teased and drained into a state of perpetual appetite, the reader is left fully sated. * Australian Book Review *Well written, thoroughly researched and extremely readable... * Biologist *Daniel P. Todes achieves a level of mastery that transforms biography into history... an exemplary work of scholarship * Science, Stephen T. Casper *a colossal work of scholarship and imagination * Raymond Tallis, Book of the Year 2014, Times Literary Supplement *Profoundly researched, densely detailed and likely to be definitive * Nature *Table of ContentsPreface ; Introduction ; PART ONE: The Seminarian Chooses Science (1849-1874) ; 1. The Pavlovs of Riazan' ; 2. Seminarian in the 'Sixties ; 3. St. Petersburg University ; PART TWO: Wilderness Years (1875-1890) ; 4. The Reluctant Physician ; 5. Serafima Vasil'evna Karchevskaia ; 6. Time of Troubles ; 7. In From the Cold ; PART THREE: Man of Tsarist Science (1891-1904) ; 8. A NonChekhovian Type ; 9. The Pavlovs of St. Petersburg ; 10. Professor of Physiology ; 11. The Physiology Factory: Forces of Production ; 12. The Physiology Factory: Relations of Production ; 13. Favorite Dogs ; 14. A Convincing Synthesis ; 15. Dacha Life ; 16. A European Reputation ; 17. Targeting the Psyche ; 18. The Nobel Prize ; PART FOUR: Nobelist in the Silver Age (1905-1914) ; 19. Amid Russia's Political Crisis ; 20. Family Life ; 21. Pavlov's Quest ; 22. The Factory Retooled ; 23. Battle of the Titans ; 24. Women Coworkers and the Physiology of Emotion ; 25. Mariia Kapitonovna Petrova ; PART FIVE: War and Revolution (1914-1921) ; 26. War ; 27. Revolution ; 28. Cataclysm ; 29. Where Are You, Freedom? ; 30. To Leave My Homeland ; PART SIX: Prosperous Dissident (1922-1929) ; 31. The Pavlovs of Leningrad ; 32. A Great Journey ; 33. Laboratory Revival ; 34. Lecturing the Bolsheviks and Leaving the Academy ; 35. The Commissar and the Dialectician ; 36. Freud, the Flood, and the Physiology of Personality ; 37. Two Books and a Beast ; 38. Types, Temperament, and Character ; 39. Work and Play in City and Countryside ; 40. On the Eve of the Great Break ; PART SEVEN: Icon of Soviet and World Science (1929-1936) ; 41. International Celebrity ; 42. Stalin Times ; 43. Pavlov's Communists ; 44. Koltushi: Pavlov's Science Village ; 45. Psychiatry ; 46. Gestalt Pavlov-Style ; 47. Year of Climaxes ; 48. At the Summit: The International Physiology Congress ; 49. Final Days ; Epilogue ; Glossary ; Bibliography

    1 in stock

    £33.19

  • Merchants of Medicines  The Commerce and Coercion

    The University of Chicago Press Merchants of Medicines The Commerce and Coercion

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"A multifaceted insight into how medicines bound together British military forces, colonial territories, manufacturing, and trade during the long eighteenth century. . . . Balanced by a nuanced consideration of the many meanings of medicines—from symbols of health and hope to tools of coercion." * American Historical Review *“Drawing on important and underused archival sources, this book is essential reading for historians of medicine, pharmacy, empire, and trade. The publication is beautifully produced, with well-designed maps and carefully chosen images. It is superb example of how ledgers, letters, accounts and government records can be utilized to build an intricate picture of how merchants made (and lost) money from a trade inextricably linked to the growth of empire and exploitation.” * British Society for the History of Medicine *“A compelling and nuanced account of the emergence of the transatlantic infrastructure that both prompted and was prompted by the circulation of chemical and natural medicine from the United Kingdom to its growing colonial empire. . . . [Dorner] compellingly documents the rise of the global medical marketplace, its complicity with the rise of modern capitalism, and the technological and fiscal infrastructures that continue to support multinational corporate medicine.” * The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *"Excellent. . . In five wide-ranging and densely researched chapters, Dorner lays bare the links between health, power, and violence that permeated the development of the nation’s imperial trade in medicine. . . . Merchants of Medicines provides an original analysis of eighteenth-century globalization that is dispiriting but rings horribly true." * British Journal for the History of Science *“Meticulously researched, methodologically innovative, and brilliantly argued, Merchants of Medicines is a masterful work that places the medicinal trade at the center of the emergence of modern ideas about empire, disease, healthcare, race, and corporeality in the eighteenth century. Dorner demonstrates how a previously overlooked profit-driven network of apothecaries, financiers, surgeons, planters, and drug traders was determinant in shaping the new political-economic models, based on exploitative labor and ideas about the universal nature of disease, that sustained the violent webs of the British empire and its slave societies. This book breaks new ground.” * Pablo Gómez, University of Wisconsin *“Merchants of Medicines is an ambitious, learned, and skillful reinterpretation of eighteenth- century British pharmaceuticals in their global contexts. Dorner elegantly recasts the story of medicine in the early modern Atlantic world as one fundamentally located in the world of commerce.” * Benjamin Siegel, Boston University *"An engaging work that intricately interweaves medical history, economic history, and imperial history, this book will greatly interest students of early modern Britain." * Choice *"Merchants of Medicine tracks medicines manufactured in England, shipped to colonial outposts in North America, the Caribbean and India, and administered, by consent or coercion, to laboring populations. Dorner’s study connects the histories of capitalism and empire to those of science and medicine, treating manufactured medicines as commodities for long-distance trade." * Eighteenth-Century Studies *"A fascinating account of how the medicine industry in its eighteenth-century form became embedded in nearly every aspect of the imperial economy." * Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science *"Dorner's argument is built on a rich set of archival sources, including petition ledgers, account books, tax records, recipes, insurance policies, contracts and correspondence. . . . Merchants of Medicines draws together histories of medicine, capitalism, race and empire; histories that are by nature inseparable. Through their interactions, Dorner shows how slavery, warfare, resource extraction and financial institutions influenced the trade in medicines, resulting in wider changes in perceptions about the role of medicines in everyday life. This book is a welcome addition to conversations concerning the early political economy of medicine, race in early modern empire and the rise of capitalism." * Social History of Medicine *"In this well-researched and solidly crafted monograph, Dorner brings together three disparate literatures—the new history of capitalism, histories of empire, and the history of medicine. . . . Capitalism as a set of logics and practices, Dorner ably shows, helped to mold the most fundamental logics of British medicine." * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"A very detailed, textured and deep study of the history of Britain’s drug markets and its imperial drugs trade. . . . What is original and unique about this book is that it shows that Britain’s domestic financial market and its empire created a new regime of production, distribution, and selling of drugs in the eighteenth century across the Atlantic and the Indian oceans." * Metascience *"Drawing on an impressive array of primary sources, Dorner weaves together the histories of successful apothecaries and merchants in London and North America with those of plantation owners, Royal Navy officers, and East India Company directors. Ultimately, this allows him to illustrate that these imperial actors considered medicines to be central to maintaining and restoring the health of large groups of people – enslaved people, soldiers, and sailors – whose ability to work was a necessary condition in the construction and operation of empire. Furthermore, the book shows that choosing these new medicines over others had more to do with commercial expediency than with well-defined medical ideas. . . . While the book’s overarching narrative is one of modernization, one in which commercial activity reached a global scale and technology became increasingly complex, this outcome is not presented as inevitable. Dorner offers a historical narrative that emphasizes the roots of the world in which we live." * Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry *Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Introduction 1 Toward an Industry 2 Distance’s Remedies 3 The Possibility of Unfree Markets 4 Pine Trees and Profits 5 Self-Sufficiency in a Bottle Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

    1 in stock

    £41.80

  • Hearing Happiness

    The University of Chicago Press Hearing Happiness

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWeaving together lyrical history and personal memoir, Virdi powerfully examines society'sand her ownperception of life as a deaf person in America. At the age of four, Jaipreet Virdi's world went silent. A severe case of meningitis left her alive but deaf, suddenly treated differently by everyone. Her deafness downplayed by society and doctors, she struggled to pass as hearing for most of her life. Countless cures, treatments, and technologies led to dead ends. Never quite deaf enough for the Deaf community or quite hearing enough for the normal majority, Virdi was stuck in aural limbo for years. It wasn't until her thirties, exasperated by problems with new digital hearing aids, that she began to actively assert her deafness and reexamine society'sand her ownperception of life as a deaf person in America. Through lyrical history and personal memoir, Hearing Happiness raises pivotal questions about deafness in American society and the endless quest for a cure. Taking us from theTrade Review“In part a critical memoir of her own life, this archival tour de force centers on d/Deafness, and, specifically, the obsessive search for a “cure”… This survey of cure and its politics, framed by disability studies, allows readers—either for the first time or as a stunning example in the field—to think about how notions of remediation are leveraged against the most vulnerable.” * Public Books *"Engaging . . . A sweeping chronology of human deafness fortified with the author’s personal struggles and triumphs." * Kirkus Reviews *"Part memoir, part historical monograph, Virdi’s Hearing Happiness breaks the mold for academic press publications." * Publishers Weekly *“In her insightful book, Virdi probes how society perceives deafness and challenges the idea that a disability is a deficit. . . . [She] powerfully demonstrates how cures for deafness pressure individuals to change, to ‘be better’.” * Washington Post *"Hearing Happiness provides a welcome extended view of the medical-technological impetus to“fix” deafness, revealing an unsettling historical continuity concerning the perversities and shortcomings of deafness cures over the last two centuries. For this, Hearing Happiness is a resounding success, exploring the deep ambivalences that often arise from normalization projects and their attendant medical technologies." * ISIS: A Journal of the History of Science Society *"Informative and engaging." * Ms. Magazine *"The most striking thing about Virdi’s book is how it confirms that hearing loss isn’t a minor annoyance that afflicts a few people. Rather, with tremendous archival work, she shows us that, over the past three centuries, Anglo-American culture has been virtually obsessed with trying to cure deafness." * Times Higher Education *"This unique book combines autobiography with broader history. Virdi traces her own personal history along with the history of treatments, assistive devices, and attempted cures for deafness in the U.S. from the 1860s to the present." * Book Riot *"Offers a well-illustrated history of the marketing of hearing aids, particularly in North America. The material proves to be remarkably rich, and also rather troubling. . . . An enlightening book." * Times Literary Supplement *"Virdi’s book offers an educational and personal exploration of the cultural history for treatment of deafness. She provides an engrossing examination of the remedies and ministrations that display the spectrum of diversity within the deaf community. Virdi’s research proffers a strong voice for every person who is impacted by the inability to hear." * Story Circle Network *"[Virdi] guides us through the history of deafness cures as both a historian immersed in the archive as well as a deaf woman with her own experiences navigating today’s landscape of treatments and so-called cures. It’s a special gift for a history like this. Virdi is interested in the efficacy of various deafness cures only inasmuch as they demonstrate the huge variety of choices and experiences deaf and hard of hearing people have had in navigating a hearing world. That is, this is not a book about debunking quackery. It is something much more interesting: a history of who makes decisions about what is normal, who is designated impaired or disabled, who determines such criteria, and how people who experience different types of hearing loss have understood their own bodies and identities." * Lady Science *“Hearing Happiness is as much a personal memoir as it is a contribution to science, technology, and the history of medicine in North America from roughly the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries.” * H-Soz-Kult *“Hearing Happiness… gives us analytical tools to be able to write history and political tools to investigate how illness, abnormality or disability is created in today’s society.” * Morgenbladet *“Hearing Happiness is a spell-binding book of research and stories. . . . In positioning her own story so centrally to the book, Virdi consolidates the power of her argument, and it operates as a political intervention into deafness as well as being a brilliant contribution to the historiography of deafness.” * H-Net *“Poetically weaving her own experiences as a deaf person into a history of hearing loss, Virdi makes a compelling argument that deafness is as much a cultural construct as it is a physical phenomenon. Rigorously researched and eminently readable, Hearing Happiness is packed with historical gems that will fascinate any reader.” * Lindsey Fitzharris, author of 'The Butchering Art' *“Everyone needs to read this fascinating history of hearing loss, technology, medicine, and audism. In examining deafness cures and sharing her own personal story, Virdi reveals society’s ever-evolving processes in creating and enforcing normalcy.” * Alice Wong, founder and director of Disability Visibility *"I always love reading books by deaf authors who grew up mainstream like me. If you want to learn about mainstreamed deaf people and the medical mysteries of deafness and its history, read this book! Virdi shares lots of fascinating information that I never knew before." * Rikki Poynter, Youtuber and deaf activist *“Hearing Happiness is smart, captivating, and immensely important. We can only grow as a society when we listen to the people we’ve placed on the fringes of it. Deaf people don’t need cures—they deserve respect and support. If you want to be a person on the front lines of necessary change, start with this book!” * Keah Brown, creator of #DisabledAndCute and author of The Pretty One *“Told with clarity and compassion, Virdi’s moving story will resonate with any reader seeking to understand what it truly is like to be deaf in the US." * Cäsar Jacobson, activist, author, and actor *“Hearing Happiness provides so much surprising and interesting historical information, as well as many answers about audism, the history of technology, and our perception of hearing loss. Virdi’s personal story is moving, and her research takes us on all kinds of trips back in time. Fascinating.” * Ilya Kaminsky, author of 2019 National Book Award finalist Deaf Republic *“Virdi has written a landmark study in the history of technology: one that shows in powerfully specific and deeply personal ways how technologies construct social norms and mold the way we live. Her nuanced account of the history of technologies designed to ‘cure’ the way that certain people experience the world is a powerful testament to the need for people from marginalized groups to have a seat at the table when technological fixes are proffered by tech corporations and the medical establishment.” * Mar Hicks, author of 'Programmed Inequality' *"An innovative and engaging historical study of deafness cures, Hearing Happiness details the complex relationship between deaf people, technology industries, medical specialists and consumer culture. . . .This refreshingly accessible work will likely become a durable historical resource inside and outside of classrooms." * Social History of Medicine *"Hearing Happiness is a must read for a broad audience interested in modern U.S. history, histories of medicine, technology, science, disability and deaf culture, and Disability and Deaf Studies. Virdi draws the reader in through a combination of masterful narrative, storytelling, and humor. Written in accessible prose, interwoven with the familiar from the broader tapestry of U.S. history, this text is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses. Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History is a stunning masterpiece of historical scholarship." * Endeavor *

    1 in stock

    £15.20

  • William James MD

    The University of Chicago Press William James MD

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe first book to map William James's preoccupation with medical ideas, concerns, and values across the breadth of his work. William James is known as a nineteenth-century philosopher, psychologist, and psychical researcher. Less well-known is how his interest in medicine influenced his life and work, driving his ambition to change the way American society conceived of itself in body, mind, and soul. William James, MD offers an account of the development and cultural significance of James's ideas and works, and establishes, for the first time, the relevance of medical themes to his major lines of thought. James lived at a time when old assumptions about faith and the moral and religious possibilities for human worth and redemption were increasingly displaced by a concern with the medically normal and the perfectibility of the body. Woven into treatises that warned against humanity's decline, these ideas were part of the eugenics movement and reflected a growing social stigma atTrade Review“By examining the ‘sick’ William James, Sutton reveals an intriguing relation between pain and philosophical outlook in his work. Her analysis not only gives us new understanding of the ‘adorable genius’; it reminds us that philosophy itself often springs from lived experience, and enduring ideas can find their beginnings even in the most inhospitable human circumstances.” * Book Post *“Fabulous . . . Changed everything that I thought I knew about Williams James.” * New Books Network *“Sutton has not provided the world with yet another biography of philosopher and psychologist, William James. Instead, she has used her impressive research and analytical skills to provide important insights regarding the relationship between James’s many physical and psychological challenges and his intellectual output. Sutton argues that James’s experiences of infirmity have direct effects on his philosophical arguments, not as intellectual irritants but as substantive catalysts for leading to deep insights. This book shows just how thoroughly embodied James’s philosophy truly is, and as such, makes an important contribution to Jamesian scholarship.” -- D. Micah Hester, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences“Sutton’s study offers a brilliant new reading of James. Her original approach not only brings new dimensions to issues around illness, pain, health, and medicine—though Sutton performs this with precision—but offers a rare scholarly analysis of his letters, reviews, notebooks, and diaries to provide a fuller picture of his personal life and his intellectual engagements. It shows the vital quality of James’s holistic integration of life and thought and the lived quality of his intellectual concerns around sickness and health. With this work, Sutton shows us that the margins of the archive are as important to Jamesian scholarship as his main works. It is a rich study that roots James’s thinking in the reality of his embodied life and shows that, with a sensitivity to his language, we can see the voice of the physician in his psychology, philosophy, and analysis of religion.” -- Jeremy Carrette, University of Edinburgh“This book changes our perception of James as a philosopher and intellectual. The best extended piece of scholarship on James in a long time.” -- Sarin Marchetti, Sapienza UniversityTable of ContentsList of Figures Introduction: The Public Physician Diagnosing James A Philosophy of Everyday Life 1: Misery and Metaphysics A Dark Business The Problem of Evil Poisoned with Utilitarian Venom The Ethics of Self-Destruction Conscious Automata 2: Health and Hygiene The Laws of Health The Alcohol Question Habit Talks to Teachers Emotions and the Body 3: Religion and Regeneration The Science of Organic Life The Wonder-Mongers The Hidden Self A Wild World 4: Energy and Endurance Mortal Disease, Morality, and God The Divided Self Superhuman Life The Energies of Men 5: Politics and Pathology The Political James Defending the Degenerate Validating the Invalid The Voice of the Sick Therapeutic Campaigns Conclusion: Afterlife Fit to Live Moral Medicine Acknowledgments Notes Archival Sources Bibliography Index

    1 in stock

    £22.80

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