
What is Medical History?
John C. Burnham(Author)
Polity Press
1st Edition
Published on 21. April 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-0-7456-3225-4 (ISBN)
Description
The field of the history of medicine and health has expanded spectacularly in recent times. In What is Medical History? John C. Burnham explores the reasons for this expansion, introducing medical history for those who know little of the subject. He sheds light on a field once written entirely by physicians, but which now attracts not only general historians but also policy makers and health care workers of all kinds.
Burnham explains that people are drawn into reading and writing about five often controversial dramas inherent in the stories of:
healers in all times and places, from conjurers to technical specialists;
patients from all ages and cultures;
diseases, from possession by demons, to infections that expand at the rate of an inch every half hour, to subtle environmental poisons;
discovery and the communication of ideas, great and trivial, flawed and brilliant;
continuing controversies around ways that health care delivery affected societies - and was shaped by societies and social institutions - through the ages.
Uniting all of these dramas, Burnham shows, was the tension between the forces of medicalization and the forces of demedicalization.
Burnham, a distinguished and versatile historian of medicine and health, offers a colorful introduction to both traditional subjects, such as the evolution of medical instruments, and the latest controversies. In this dynamic field, he contends, the unanswered questions remain as attractive as the scholarship that gives rise to them.
Burnham explains that people are drawn into reading and writing about five often controversial dramas inherent in the stories of:
healers in all times and places, from conjurers to technical specialists;
patients from all ages and cultures;
diseases, from possession by demons, to infections that expand at the rate of an inch every half hour, to subtle environmental poisons;
discovery and the communication of ideas, great and trivial, flawed and brilliant;
continuing controversies around ways that health care delivery affected societies - and was shaped by societies and social institutions - through the ages.
Uniting all of these dramas, Burnham shows, was the tension between the forces of medicalization and the forces of demedicalization.
Burnham, a distinguished and versatile historian of medicine and health, offers a colorful introduction to both traditional subjects, such as the evolution of medical instruments, and the latest controversies. In this dynamic field, he contends, the unanswered questions remain as attractive as the scholarship that gives rise to them.
Reviews / Votes
'With examples drawn from a wide time frame, this book shows why successive generations have found the subject of medical history so fascinating. Organized into themes, and written in a lively, accessible style, it gives a balanced account of even the most controversial areas.'Mark Harrison, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
226 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7456-3225-4 (9780745632254)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

John C. Burnham
What is Medical History?
Book
01/2005
1st Edition
Polity Press
€65.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
John Burnham is Research Professor of History and Scholar in Residence in the Medical Heritage Center, The Ohio State University
Content
Preface vi
Introduction: Where Medical History Came From 1
The First Drama: The Healer 10
The Second Drama: The Sick Person 32
The Third Drama: Diseases 55
The Fourth Drama: Discovering and Communicating Knowledge 80
The Fifth Drama: Medicine and Health Interacting with Society 108
Conclusion: Where Medical History is Going 135
Suggestions for Further Reading 143
Notes 149
Index 154
Introduction: Where Medical History Came From 1
The First Drama: The Healer 10
The Second Drama: The Sick Person 32
The Third Drama: Diseases 55
The Fourth Drama: Discovering and Communicating Knowledge 80
The Fifth Drama: Medicine and Health Interacting with Society 108
Conclusion: Where Medical History is Going 135
Suggestions for Further Reading 143
Notes 149
Index 154