Description
Book SynopsisHighly Commended, BMA Medical Book Awards 2013
The history of health care is complex, confusing, and contested. It involves more than just the creation of hospitals and dispensaries, infirmaries, and health centers. There are also royal colleges, trades unions, medical schools, nurses' homes, coroners' courts, nursing sisterhoods, ambulance stations, patients' organizations, and medical missions.
Usually, to enhance our understanding we sit and read books, or, nowadays, surf the Internet. But it's more fun to go out, visit the buildings where events unfolded and transport yourself back in time. The story of how health care has developed from medieval times to the present day is told through seven walks in central London, each with a key theme, such as:
- Competition between the church, crown, and city for control
- Changing fortunes of particular districts
- Radical reform between 1840 and 1880
- Individual creativity an
Trade Review
"An anatomy upon the historical body of London"
—Peter Ackroyd
"With teasing asides about the scandals and intrigues of London's medical history ... Black reveals little-known aspects of the capital's past in a manner both informative and fun, accessible whether you have a medical background or not. Walks you'll actually want to go on."
—Tom Lamont, Editor, Time Out: London for Londoners
Table of Contents
The history of health care. Church, Crown and City - Covent Garden (4.8 km; 2.5 hours). The lost hospitals of St Luke's - St Luke's (3.7 km; 1.5 hours). A cradle of reform - St Pancras & Bloomsbury (3.5 km; 2 hours). The challenging isle - Soho (2.9 km; 1.5 hours). Merge or move - Fitzrovia (4.6 km; 2 hours). From trades to professions - Marylebone (4.5 km; 2 hours). 'Merrie Islington' to 'the contagion of numbers' - Finsbury (2.6 km 1.5 hours) & Islington (3.8 km; 2 hours). Motoring tour: No city is an island - north and east Kent (160 miles; 3 days by car).
