Book Description

A Traffic of Dead Bodies enters the sphere of bodysnatching medical students, dissection-room pranks, and anatomical fantasy. It shows how nineteenth-century American physicians used anatomy to develop a vital professional identity, while claiming authority over the living and the dead. It also introduces the middle-class women and men, working people, unorthodox healers, cultural radicals, entrepreneurs, and health reformers who resisted and exploited anatomy to articulate their own social identities and visions.

The nineteenth century saw the rise of the American medical profession: a proliferation of practitioners, journals, organizations, sects, and schools. Anatomy lay at the heart of the medical curriculum, allowing American medicine to invest itself with the authority of European science. Anatomists crossed the boundary between life and death, cut into the body, reduced it to its parts, framed it with moral commentary, and represented it theatrically, visually, and textually. Only initiates of the dissecting room could claim the privileged healing status that came with direct knowledge of the body. But anatomy depended on confiscation of the dead--mainly the plundered bodies of African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and the poor. As black markets in cadavers flourished, so did a cultural obsession with anatomy, an obsession that gave rise to clashes over the legal, social, and moral status of the dead. Ministers praised or denounced anatomy from the pulpit; rioters sacked medical schools; and legislatures passed or repealed laws permitting medical schools to take the bodies of the destitute. Dissection narratives and representations of the anatomical body circulated in new places: schools, dime museums, popular lectures, minstrel shows, and sensationalist novels.

Michael Sappol resurrects this world of graverobbers and anatomical healers, discerning new ligatures among race and gender relations, funerary practices, the formation of the middle-class, and medical professionalization. In the process, he offers an engrossing and surprisingly rich cultural history of nineteenth-century America.

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Reviews (2)

Dry treatment of a fabulous story
As a registered nurse who is interested in nursing history and
fascinating medical cases, I bought this book with the expectation that the author would not only detail how she accomplished all her noteworthy achievements, but also tell in interesting clinical detail about the cases she treated. Instead, she details at great length the names of people she knew, and where she traveled, and the "administrative" aspects of her career, while covering very little of actual patient cases. The clinical stories are far between, and you must slog through "who was her favorite accountant" for the nursing service, to get to the touching story of how she helped a boy with a congenital heart condition through a flood on a makeshift raft to float downstream to the hospital. She had a fabulously interesting life, and did a great work, and I admire her, I would only suggest that she should have focused on the actual patients in her stories, and left out every little single detail of how the paperwork was done, whom she talked to at the bank, who she had supper with on June 12, 1920, etc, etc. It could have been a much more interestingly written memoir. But still a story very worthy of being told written by a great woman.

The greatest woman in Kentucky history.
A woman surrounded by wealth, widely traveled, followed her "calling" to come to the poorest, most remote area of Kentucky to establish the Frontier Nursing Service in the 1920's. She, almost singlehandly, established a hospital in Hyden, Ky, started a Midwifery School (still very active) and provided, with her nurses, medical and midwifery service on horseback - later jeeps - to several counties in southeast Kentucky.

It is my intent to present this message to those who might be interested in bringing about the long needed story of this woman's life and contributions in a full length motion picture. ... Read more

Book Description

Looking back on his confinement to Bethlem, Restoration playwright Nathaniel Lee declared: ""They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me."" As Roy Porter shows in Madness: A Brief History, thinking about who qualifies as insane, what causes mental illness, and how such illness should be treated has varied wildly throughout recorded history, sometimes veering dangerously close to the arbitrariness Lee describes and often encompassing cures considerably worse than the illness itself. Drawing upon eyewitness accounts of doctors, writers, artists, and the mad themselves, Roy Porter tells the story of our changing notions of insanity and of the treatments for mental illness that have been employed from antiquity to the present day. Beginning with 5,000-year-old skulls with tiny holes bored in them (to allow demons to escape), through conceptions of madness as an acute phase in the trial of souls, as an imbalance of ""the humors,"" as the ""divine fury"" of creative genius, or as the malfunctioning of brain chemistry, Porter shows the many ways madness has been perceived and misperceived in every historical period. He takes us on a fascinating round of treatments, ranging from exorcism and therapeutic terror--including immersion in a tub of eels--to the first asylums, shock therapy, the birth of psychoanalysis, and the current use of psychotropic drugs. Throughout, Madness: A Brief History offers a balanced view, showing both the humane attempts to help the insane as well as the ridiculous and often cruel misunderstanding that have bedeviled our efforts to heal the mind of its myriad afflictions. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Roy Porter's succinct historical summary of madness
This is the first book I have ever read by Roy Porter,
but it won't be the last. He is a polished writer and
in this condensed overview of the history of mental
illness, every word is measured and to the point.

I love the illustrations and do wish the book came
in a larger format.

One grave omission, imho, there is not mention of
lithium as one of the great drugs of the century.

Squiggles

Insanity as a social construct over the centuries...
Roy Porter died way too young. His books on medical history are a must-read for those who enjoy learning, and need to know how medical and scientific changes came about. I am one person who really feels that understand medical and social history is the only way that we can avoid the mistakes of the past, and work towards making the future as equitable in treatment and understanding towards those with mental illness as we can.
Porter's book is small and a quick read. He doesn't dash through, but this is not a textbook. Nor does it cover every possible scientific and social input on what 'makes' madness and what different centuries did to deal with those with mental conditions. If the reader is looking for a first look into the history of mental illness, he cannot go wrong with reading this concisely written book. It will not answer all the questions...in fact, it raises more questions. But Porter not only gives enough information and color to this particular problem, he also gives a wonderful bibliography/reference to refer to if the reader wishes to read about any particular time or problem. I did go looking for several of his recommended books, and I have not been disappointed yet.

It is of great interest that I read about the early 18th century, when so many of the great philosophers impacted the view with which scientists and physicians (and family too) viewed mental illness. Porter emphasizes that the great humanitarian changes made in the care of those mentally ill occurred then...but in spite of obvious success with providing homes and medical care and even jobs to these unfortunates, the fact that this 'care' did not provide a cure and unfortunately, the input of Darwin's idea of 'survival of the fittest' as promoted by his cousin, caused these asylums to deteriorate into the snake pits of the movies. Since genetics is raising some of the same questions and answer given by the eugenists from 1870 to past WWII ... it is paramount that students and medical personnel be trained in this medical history.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

The Long View of Lunacy
Roy Porter died recently at the age of 55, but produced over eighty books on a wide range of subjects, from the Enlightenment to the English treatment of insanity in various historic periods. It would not be surprising if this polymath has other manuscripts awaiting publication, but _Madness: A Brief History_ (Oxford University Press) was his last production before his death. It is a remarkable work especially for its brevity, taking in prehistoric concepts of madness and ranging all the way into current psychiatric controversies in less than 250 clear, well-researched pages. There have been fashions of treatments for the mentally ill, and just a bit of scientific justification for them most recently, but one of the points of his treatise is to show that we aren't any closer to true definitions of madness than Polonius was: to "define true madness,/ What is't but to be nothing else but mad?" His own lack of definition enables this brief overview to take in a great deal of territory.

Porter examines the imposition of madness by the gods in Homer. By the time of Hippocrates (around 400 BCE) madness was a medical, not moral or magical, matter. But supernatural explanations for insanity were advanced again, along with the angels and demons sanctioned by the Christian church. Around the Renaissance, the concept arose that madness was a special sort of inspiration. (There remains folk wisdom that geniuses are not at all far removed from the insane.) Families had originally had the responsibility for lunatic progeny, but the surplus wealth of urban areas encouraged families to buy such services. At the beginning of the nineteenth century in England, confined lunatics were largely in private asylums under what was literally called "the trade in lunacy." Optimism that "moral treatment" might cure such cases was disappointed; in the last of the nineteenth century, a pessimism took over, as few were cured and the asylums became clogged with inmates whose needs were severe. Security and sedation were promoted as the numbers grew. Armed with new classifications of different styles of madness, doctors continued to be frustrated by an inability to change much; one German asylum doctor said, "We know a lot and can do little."

With the revolution in pharmaceuticals in the twentieth century, this changed. Patients were able to leave the asylums, and the medicines promised improvement without long stays in the hospital, long bouts of psychoanalysis, or irreversible psychosurgery, as well as promoting psychiatrists as "real doctors." This is a remarkable book, which is able to take a broad historical view; there are far larger tomes on this subject, and indeed on subjects which here necessarily get only a paragraph or so, but the sweep of the coverage is impressive. Porter ends his summary with unnecessary pessimism. It is true that the last century had its share of abuse of the mentally ill (one does not even have to cite the extremes of Nazi and Soviet persecution), and it is also true that there are more psychiatric diagnoses than ever, and more patients classified as fitting them. Even though the history of the rise of psychiatry and the improvements it can bestow may have had more controversy or backsliding than other branches of medicine, it is a simple truth that those suffering from madness now are better off than they were one or three or twenty centuries ago. ... Read more

Book Description

The Shang Han Lun has been a primary treatment theory and practice source for nearly two millenia. Its author, Zhang Zhong Jing, has been named the "Chinese Hippocrates" to highlight the depth and breadth of his contribution to traditional Chinese drug therapy.

This edition features the Chinese text, Pinyin transliteration, and an English translation of the entire Song Dynasty text, the content and textual order most used in Asia. Just as in Chinese language editions, it is fully supplemented with notes and commentaries. The notes describe the clinical symptoms Zhang Zhong Jing associated with the Chinese terms. For example, modern interpretations of a "moderate" pulse often refer to the speed of its beats.The same term, when used in the Shang Han Lun, refers to a pulse that is loose, soft, and harmonious. Such notes provide practitioners with the clinical observations necessary to properly apply the information.

The commentaries further enhance the text's clinical utility by explaining the theoretical and practical foundations behind the lines of text. Because entire bodies of theory and practice can be associated with the terms and expressions used in cannonical works like the Shang Han Lun, commentaries have become a standard means of knowledge acquisition for Asian students. The commentaries in this edition serve exactly the same purpose, greatly enhancing its utility. The introductory matter explains the background of the text, the conceptual structure of its contents, and the problems of exegesis. The appendices are designed to assist those studying Chinese and the glossary and the full Pinyin-English index make this an easily accessed reference. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

All form and no substance
I would like to point out a few things about this book. Yes, I do have a personal beef with a translator who has a book signing. I mean the real star here is the Shang Han Lun, not him.
1) Most important point, though no one will say it, this is not a real translation of the classical Shang Han Lun. It is a translation of a translation into modern Chinese. As one esteemed Chinese teacher said, when listing books that needed to be written into english;" We need a new translation of the Shang Han Lun, not the Easy Shang Han Lun."
2) Notice that the comentaries are not by Mitchell, but instead by a Shang Han Lun expert in China. This means that you do not get any kind of cross cultural translation.
You are better off getting a much less expensive, old copy of the Shang Han Lun and reading that.

On Cold Damage True to Tradition
There have been other translations of Shang Han Lun (the Treatise on Cold Damage) into English, but this is the first to preserve the original's clinical detail and precise terminology. It is also the first to include the most commonly encountered edition of the original Chinese text, with characters and Pinyin romanization with tone marks. Since the number of characters used in the original text is few, this book is a good text for those wishing to learn ancient medical Chinese as well as a useful clinical reference.

The text commentaries, while useful and appropriate, are limited to the original applications of the herbal formulas described in the Shang Han Lun. It is disappointing that the authors could not cover later applications of these formulas, as the inclusion of such material could have made the text comprehensive. However, what the work lacks in breadth, it makes up for in depth by being the most unadulterated look at the Shang Han Lun system of herbal medicine available in English.

The present application of Nigel Wiseman's terminology makes for difficult reading, but the terms used are explained in detail both in situ and in the excellent glossary section of this book. Liberal use of the glossary will make clear to the reader words and turns of phrase which would otherwise be obscure.

Despite a few problems, this book is a landmark translation for the English-speaking practitioner of Chinese medicine wishing to study the theory and practice of the Shang Han Lun, or to begin learning ancient medical Chinese. What it may lack in the details of execution, it more than makes up for with an overall solid translation, including the Chinese text, and a useful glossary. The coauthors manage to convey a clear sense of the Shang Han Lun way of looking at infectious diseases and epidemiology, a way very different from the modern Western view, but also eerily similar on closer examination. This book will be welcomed, both by the clinician and the advanced student. ... Read more

Book Description

With over 350 illustrations, this impressive volume traces the rich history of ideas about the functioning of the brain from its roots in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the centuries into relatively modern times. In contrast to biographically oriented accounts, this book is unique in its emphasis on the functions of the brain and how they came to be associated with specific brain regions and systems. Among the topics explored are vision, hearing, pain, motor control, sleep, memory, speech, and various other facets of intellect. The emphasis throughout is on presenting material in a very readable way, while describing with scholarly acumen the historical evolution of the field in all its amazing wealth and detail. From the opening introductory chapters to the concluding look at treatments and therapies, this monumental work will captivate readers from cover to cover. It will be valued as both an historical reference and as an exciting tale of scientific discovery. It is bound to attract a wide readership among students and professionals in the neural sciences as well as general readers interested in the history of science and medicine. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Origins of Neuroscience
This book is a wonderful introduction into the history of neurosciences and our understanding of the brain. It is an excellent read for the physician, scientist, or brain enthusiast. It is easy to follow and well organized. Finger captures the excitement of the important discoveries about the brain and diseases of the brain. I highly recommend this book for anyones shelf who collects history of medicine books. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

rivalry between two scientists
Edward Marriott's book is an interesting, well-written, anecdoctal account of two rival scientists studying the plague that struck Hong Kong in 1894. In the light of present day news stories of mad-cow disease, SARS, and other exotic ailments that possibly could pose a pandemic threat, Marriott's book is especially relevant.

Marriott brings the rat-infested harbor area and the exceedingly crowded, poor districts of the city to vivid life. The stark pictures of those soon-emptied areas, so quickly deserted by panicked residents, are chilling to view.

Recommended to all readers, and especially to those involved in public health issues.

It's out there!
Plague, commonly known as The Black Death, has occurred in three major pandemics, and this is a fine history of the latest, which started in China in the late 19th century and spread worldwide from Hong Kong. Investigations into the nature of the disease in 1894 culminated in a contest between two early microbiologists, Kitasato and Yersin, a tale with obvious modern parallels. This historical footnote is one of the major themes of the book, but the author then follows the spread of Plague from Hong Kong to India and on to America. It has become entrenched in various wild animals worldwide. This is a great medical history, and one of the best of the rash of books on "killer diseases" that currently flood the market.

Enlightening, entertaining, abbreviated
This is really 3 1/2 stars. The subject was engrossing, the story of the rivalry between the heroic Frenchman and the brilliant but cheating Japanese researchers interesting, the history of the plague informative. BUT it was very condensed; the chapters were quite short and needed fleshing out.

I did like the organization - alternating between a breakout of the plague in modern India and the one that struck turn of the century Hong Kong. Particularly disturbing were the tales of modern plague and the rather easy conditions needed to engender such a horror.

The author did not spend enough time with the main story. He concentrated on colonial conditions, the prejudice of the imperialists, the still-existing problem of health in the 3rd world. But the heart of the story was the rivalry between the two researchers and the plague itself. This could have been a brilliant book - instead it was only above average. Pictures and a bibliography are included.

Trying too hard to be original
PLAGUE starts out slow but gathers steam in the last hundred pages. This progression may have been inevitable. True stories of killer diseases have emerged as a genre in recent years since the publishing of Richard Preston's THE HOT ZONE, and the plague in particular is probably the most written-about disease in human history. So Marriott needed to try something new or be hopelessly derivative. The problem with this book is that Marriott perhaps attempts tries in too many ways before the story steadies itself and becomes compelling.

The basic set up of the book is, HOT ZONE-like, an icky outline of what the disease can do, then the story of the scientific exploration of the disease. (Even more than THE HOT ZONE, PLAGUE's tale of scientific rivalry in the race to understand the disease reminded me of Gina Kolata's FLU). This story, the rivalry between French doctor Alexander Yersin and his Japanese competitor, Kitasato Shibasaburo, is essentially what the book is about.

But before the Yersin-Kitasato race becomes interesting, Marriott inserts several side stories, some of which distract from the momentum of the main story. Most distracting is an ongoing story about a 1994 plague outbreak in India. That's only the lengthiest of several stories of "future" plague outbreaks. I think the point is that even though the bacteria that causes plague was identified a hundred years ago, even though the disease is now treatable, even though its method of transmission is now understood, it is still a problem for human societies. But the point could have been made better in a more linear story. As it is, the side stories seem to be inserted in slow moments of the main story. Perhaps Marriott felt that the main story did not provide enough material for a full, suspenseful book.

Nevertheless, the suspense level of PLAGUE picks up and the Yersin-Kitasato story reaches a finite end. Not so the larger story of the plague, as indicated by the somewhat open-ended Indian outbreak story, which mutates into a more personal story about a family affected by the social impact of what turns out to be a small outbreak. Unfortunately, this is how the book ends. I think I understand why, but it just doesn't work.

Lessons of History
Ask most educated people about the plague and the response you will get probably revolves around the "Black Death" of the Middle Ages that wiped out a good portion of the population of Europe. Most books about the plague tend to focus on this period. But Marriott's book reminds us that the plague is not gone, still popping up its ugly head from time to time.

In a world chilled by thoughts of bio-terrorism and SARS, most people tend to avoid books like this but I find them interesting. Humans will always be susceptible to disease but we will always fight back. In this book, Marriott tells the parallel stories of an outbreak of plague in southeast Asia in 1894 where two scientists--Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato--tried to determine the process of this disease and an outbreak of plague in India in 1994 where he shows how panic still dominates our reactions to epidemics in our modern world. Along the way, he reminds Americans that plague also has its claws in the United States though our medical system tends to keep things at bay.

Ultimately, Marriott gives us a good look into the foundations of modern medicine and how diseases came to be combated despite the combat, both intellectual and physical, between doctors of different nations and sensibilities. He also reminds us in a rather subtle way of how primitive our response to deadly sickness remains despite our drugs and treatments--something that we need to be reminded of in a world where we could be called to respond to an epidemic on many fronts. His prose may not be as gripping as some writers in this field (Richard Preston comes to mind) but he gets the job done in a very readable way. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1989 Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery that normal genes under certain conditions can cause cancer. In this book, Bishop tells us how he and Varmus made their momentous discovery. More than a lively account of the making of a brilliant scientist, How to Win the Nobel Prize is also a broader narrative combining two major and intertwined strands of medical history: the long and ongoing struggles to control infectious diseases and to find and attack the causes of cancer.

Alongside his own story, that of a youthful humanist evolving into an ambivalent medical student, an accidental microbiologist, and finally a world-class researcher, Bishop gives us a fast-paced and engrossing tale of the microbe hunters. It is a narrative enlivened by vivid anecdotes about our deadliest microbial enemies--the Black Death, cholera, syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria, smallpox, HIV--and by biographical sketches of the scientists who led the fight against these scourges.

Bishop then provides an introduction for nonscientists to the molecular underpinnings of cancer and concludes with an analysis of many of today's most important science-related controversies--ranging from stem cell research to the attack on evolution to scientific misconduct. How to Win the Nobel Prize affords us the pleasure of hearing about science from a brilliant practitioner who is a humanist at heart. Bishop's perspective will be valued by anyone interested in biomedical research and in the past, present, and future of the battle against cancer. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wonderful look at the history of medicine
This book offers a view of medicine from every era. From the ancients to modern day, the pictures are illuminating. Although a picture is worth a 1000 words, the narration through the book is also very educational. One of the best books of its kind! ... Read more

Book Description

"The most terrible of all the ministers of death." Thomas MacauleyMozart, Voltaire, Elizabeth I and Abraham Lincoln all had it--and survived. Millions did not. The scourge of smallpox affected rich and poor alike, killing many and disfiguring the rest. 'Cures' included bleeding, purging, oil of scorpions and even crabs' eyes.Edward Jenner's breakthrough in 1796 started the slow, often controversial, process of controlling the virus. By 1979 smallpox had become the first-ever disease to be eradicated. Yet, today, its possible use in biological warfare presents a major threat. This is an accessible account of the history, and possible future, of a terrifying disease.Ian Glynn is Professor of Physiology Emeritus at Cambridge University and Fellow of Trinity College. He is the author of An Anatomy of Thought (Oxford, 2000). Jenifer Glynn is a Cambridge historian and author of Tidings from Zion (Tauris, 2000). ... Read more

Reviews (2)

a very readable academic study
Ms Cassell has written a very readable book about women who practice surgery. In spite of the approachability, the book concerns an academic study, not a journalistic expose'. This study follows a previous anthropological study of male surgeons, and a dissertation in women's studies. This book will be of interest to people who are in the medical fields, those who study social behaviour, and those interested in women practicing 'nontraditional' careers. I think it would be of particular value for both men and women who are considering a career as a surgeon.

Very honest portraits
As a female surgeon, I am (of course) very interested in the subject matter. So many of the descriptions and explanations, of both the wonderful and awful aspects of being a surgeon, rang true to me. Along with Charles Bosk's "Forgive & Remember", I would highly recommend this book not only to any medical student, male or female, interested in a career in surgery, but also to any family member, loved one, or significant other of a surgeon. It will give you tremendous insight into our (rather singular) worldview, and how and why we "embody" it. ... Read more

Book Description

NURSING REFLECTIONS: A Century Of Caring documents nursing's rich history in a photo essay book vividly representing the twentieth century of nursing. Featuring large black and white photos on brilliant, glossy paper, this hard cover book includes photos from all disciplines of nursing, gathered from public anfd private sources. It's perfect as a gift or nursing collectible. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Every Nurse is Famous
This book is full of famous nurses. Each and every nurse in this photo essay book is famous to the person they cared for. Even though you may not recognize their names you will be able to feel the passion of their caring. This book is filled with nurse photos and stories of their caring. Nurses are the ones who provide the day-in and day-out around the clock caring for those in need. As you will see in this beautifully illustrated book and read in their personal stories, nurses have been near the battlefields, in the homes, in the air, and in the hospitals - listening, providing care, and teaching. The book starts at 1900 and ends "yesterday". Each decade begins with a timeline of important events. This is followed with the stories and photos relevant to the decade. Everyone know a nurse and when you finish with this book, you will indeed have the feeling that you have steped into the lives of these "famous nurses" and shared in their stories. This is a delightful and beautiful book. ... Read more

Book Description

The Black Death was a disaster of such magnitude that it not only shook the Old World to its economic and social foundations, but changed the course of human history. Yet this book is the first comprehensive history and assessment of its progress, and of the death and devastation it left in its wake, in all the countries through which it passed. The many local studies on the Black Death published in a variety of languages and scholarly papers have for the first time been systematically collected and thoroughly analysed. The medical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease, its geographical origin, its spread across Asia Minor, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and the mortality in the countries and regions for which there are satisfactory studies, are clearly presented and thoroughly discussed. The pattern, pace and seasonality of spread revealed through close scrutiny of these studies exactly reflect current medical work and standard studies on the epidemiology of bubonic plague. Benedictow's findings relating to the mortality caused by the Black Death are based on the meticulous study and synthesis of all available demographic studies. Published over the past forty years, most of them in widely dispersed local journals and local histories, this cumulative evidence, far-reaching in its implications, has gone largely unnoticed. This book makes it clear that the true mortality rate was far higher than has been previously thought. In the light of these findings, the discussion in the last part of the book showing the Black Death as a turning point in history takes on a new significance. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Must Read for Clinicians & Public Healh Professionals
George Rosen's chronology of the development of public health in A History of Public Health is a MUST read for not only public health professionals, but clinicians, health administrators and any one even remotely interested in how mankind has responded to the threat of infectious disease. His very detailed presentation of the facts takes the reader back to the study of Hippocrates as he wrote the epic writings of EPIDEMICS I, EPIDEMICS II, and AIRS, WATERS AND PLACES. By placing the reader within the historical context of the period he is reviewing, the reader gains a better understanding and appreciation for the actions (or in some cases, IN-actions) of key individuals and governments. Mr. Rosen very eloquently describes how this area of PUBLIC HEALTH is actually a multi-disciplinary science, which consists of medicine, social science and others (such as engineering, public administration and economics). Rosen's unique style of presenting the facts is very direct, concise and full of detail. His thorough examination of the elements that contributed to what we know as PUBLIC HEALTH today, is thorough and informative. If there must be one weakness of the book, it is that this is a complete chronology of public health as viewed through a WESTERN, positivist view. Very little is mentioned on Eastern, traditionalist medicine in any form or fashion. However, one of the most comprehensive books on this subject ever written and one that is a MUST for all involved in the public health field.

a simply wonderfull book that captivates
I have not come across a history book in the medical field that is so scholarly and so readable. The fact that George Rosen cared so deeply about contemporary health problems shine through this well referenced volume. It should be on the shelves of every public health practitioner ... Read more

Book Description

One of medicine's most remarkable therapeutic triumphs was the discovery of insulin in 1921. The drug produced astonishing results, rescuing children and adults from the deadly grip of diabetes. But as Chris Feudtner demonstrates, the subsequent transformation of the disease from a fatal condition into a chronic illness is a story of success tinged with irony, a revealing saga that illuminates the complex human consequences of medical intervention.

Bittersweet chronicles this history of diabetes through the compelling perspectives of people who lived with this disease. Drawing on a remarkable body of letters exchanged between patients or their parents and Dr. Elliot P. Joslin and the staff of physicians at his famed Boston clinic, Feudtner examines the experience of living with diabetes across the twentieth century, highlighting changes in treatment and their profound effects on patients' lives. Although focused on juvenile-onset, or Type 1, diabetes, the themes explored in Bittersweet have implications for our understanding of adult-onset, or Type 2, diabetes, as well as a host of other diseases that, thanks to drugs or medical advances, are being transformed from acute to chronic conditions. Indeed, the tale of diabetes in the post-insulin era provides an ideal opportunity for exploring the larger questions of how medicine changes our lives. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great book for medical and non-medical readers
This book describes the transformation of diabetes from a rapidly-fatal illness to a chronic one with a host of new associated problems. Though written by a physician, the book focuses on this transformation from patients' perspectives. In addition, it emphasizes the impact of diabetes on not just the health of individuals but also on their day-to-day lives.

The highlight of this book is the collection of stories of individual patients and families. Drawing from letters and other patient records at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Feudtner vividly details the lives of diabetic patients in the 20th century. Of particular interest is a patient who corresponds with his physicians using self-drawn cartoons, a number of which are included in the book.

While this book will be of special interest to diabetic patients and physicians, I recommend it to any reader intersted in the interplay between modern medicine and the people it aims to serve. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Interesting and fun read
I liked this book because it tells about all the weird superstitions and ideas people used to have about women's sexuality and the lengths to which women had to go to have an orgasm. The history was both amusing and somewhat exasperating, since we haven't really progressed that much. Women are still trying to finds ways to have an orgasm, a job formerly left to doctors and midwives, according to the book. In the 20th Century, we turned the "job" of giving a woman a climax over to our male partners.

Technology of Orgasm is a good read if you want to find out what it used to be like. If you want to find out how women can reclaim the task of giving themselves an orgasm during intercourse, without the aid of "technology," I would recommend "Five Minutes to Orgasm Every Time You Make Love - For Women Only!"

A frustrating and yet hilarious read
This book is indeed a hoot. The idea that early 20th century medical doctors could not tell that they were stimulating their patients to orgasm is astonishing, until the reader progresses through more of the book. The book is not about conception--it's about female orgasm, which is not directly related to conception (and can be easily achieved with no penetration at all). The androcentric bias the author mentions pertains, for example, to the writers of sex manuals in past decades who counseled men not to bother bringing their partners to orgasm, and counseled women not to demand orgasm, because concentrating on "her pleasure" (as the condom boxes say) can be distracting for the male partner. THAT advice is androcentric, and a major point of this book.

Brilliant!
This book is utterly fascinating! Written by a woman who's really done her homework on the subject, The Technology of Orgasm proves to be a captivating historical account of the evolution of society's perceptions of women's sexuality. It's a must-read for a woman who's confident in her sexuality, or would like to become more so.

hysteric paroxysm
for centuries, troubled -- or troubling -- women were diagnosed with "hysteria." the classic treatment for this vague malady was inducement of the "hysteric paroxysm" -- known to us contemporary types as the orgasm. according to rachel maines's wryly hilarious history, the first mechanical vibrators were labor-saving devices for doctors tired of inducing orgasm in their patients manually. who knew? this book is clearly her dissertation & primarily intended for academics, but i found it mind-blowing & frequently quite amusing. i frequently recommend it to friends & colleagues looking for a quick, smart, engaging read.

Not too bad
Firstly let me say I enjoyed and recommend this book, yet
have taken issue with some of the opinions expressed as if
they are fact.

Well I guess that is the way people write, but take for example, on page 5 of this book the author writes: "The
androcentric definition of sex as an activity recognizes
three essential steps: preparation for penetration
("foreplay"), penetration, and male orgasism."

That is not an androcentric definition of sex,
that is the procreational definition of sex. I do wish
historians could lay off the conspiracy theory, as
there is too much of it running like a theoretical flaw
throughout this book. In an age where effective
contraception is routine, many men and women blithely and
conveniently forgetting the historical roots of intercourse.
It is like people in the city do occasionally naively forget where bottled milk comes from.
The passage continues
"Sexual activity that does not involve at least the last two
has not been popularly or medically (and for that matter
legally) regarded as "the real thing."
There is the rub. Of course it is not regarded as the real
thing, as without it there is no chance of procreation. Surprise
surprise, sex is actually in reality about procreation in
the final analysis. Otherwise it becomes a mere example of
persistent human sensual trivia in the grand scheme of
things, and is moving away from actual sex into merely 'having orgasisms' --- which is a different thing.

But instead the survival of human race actually depends on
the 'real thing' and that is for better or worse the reality of it. Well it did so fully depend until recent times when laboratories can increasingly at times help sperm get it touch with ova.

Beside my criticism of a sly bad vibe of jingoistic
femimism running thru this book it is nonetheless a
worthwhile opinionated exploration into some fairly recent
history of Western medical practice and popular 'culture'
involving the use of vibrators.

Recommended. The book that is. ;-/ ... Read more

Book Description

The Great Plague of 1665-6 is the best known epidemic in English history.Its sheer scale--100,000 deaths in London out of a population of 500,000--is overwhelming.The Plague is featured in the works of Pepys and Defoe and described in painstaking detail in the contemporary Bills of Mortality. Porter's book is the only complete modern study of the subject, and he paints a chilling portrait of a society threatened by an uncontrollable disease. THE GREAT PLAGUE looks at all aspects of the epidemic.It describes the disease, gives details of the treatments, and vividly evokes its impact on the country.Highly illustrated, THE GREAT PLAGUE is a well-documented and fascinating account of a devastating epidemic. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very Well Illustrated, but Not the Definitive Work
I first became aware of this book through the bibliography section of Norman Cantor's In the Wake of the Plague. He noted that the book was valuable mainly for its illustrations. After reading The Great Plague, I am inclined to agree. The subject of the book is the plague that infected London and the surrounding provinces from 1665-67. There are many illustrations throughout the book, some more or less related to the topic, but all interesting and most I have not seen before. Many are examples of contemporary art showing the different provinces or scenes of the epidemic itself. The book is well written for dry facts and numbers, but is not engaging as is, for example, the old Philip Ziegler book on the Black Death. The text is full of statistics, especially in its chapters on London and the Provinces. One, of course, cannot write about the epidemics without statistics on deaths, etc., but too much reliance on listing them for every province can be very tedious for the reader (a chart certainly would suffice and make it easier for the reader to compare affected areas).

In the chapter on the provinces, each province is covered separately which also makes it arduous. I kept losing track of what was where and, with the lack of a map in this book, had problems visualizing where each area was as I have no knowledge of English geography. After chapters of the percentage of deaths, quarantining policies, etc., the final chapter The Plague in Perspective included some issues that I believe might have been covered more; the London fire of 1666 and its alleged role in ending the plague, the effect of the brown rat replacing the black rat, and the distinction of the rat flea and the human flea, to name a few. One part I found particularly interesting was Porter's explanation of the Bills of Mortality and how the causes of deaths were sometimes fudged so that trade and tourism would not be scared off if word of the first signs of epidemic got out. The author also includes the title page of London's 1665 Bills of Mortality from his collection on page 153. For those interested in this subject, The Great Plague is worth owning for the scores of pictures. The text, however is probably a good starting point but is not the definitive work on the Great Plague. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Every little thing
From the cavemen to the modern days, this book covers everything known to the history of veterinary medicine so far: from the ancient means of diagnosis, to the discoveries of new treatments, to great people who helped to develop the veterinary medicine. It's not a book for specialists, but for anyone interested in history. I particularly bought this book because I'm a vet, and wanted to know the origins of my profession. And I had a very good surprise. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1900, western medicine was important to philanthropy and public health, but it was marginal to the state, the industrial economy and the welfare of most individuals. It is now central to these aspects of life. Our prospects seem increasingly dependent on the progress of bio-medical sciences and genetic technologies which promise to reshape future generations.

Now available in paperback, Medicine in the Twentieth Century includes over forty authoritative essays, written by historical specialists but intended for general readers. Some concentrate on the political economy of medicine and health as it changed from period to period and varied between countries, others focus on understandings of the body and a third set of essays explores transformations in some of the theatres of medicine and the changing experiences of different categories of practitioners and patients. ... Read more