The Neurologists

Reviews / Votes

'An important contribution to our understanding of specialization in medicine. Casper's carefully researched and lucidly argued study presents an illuminating picture of the way in which British neurology developed an intellectual and ultimately institutional identity separate from that of elite medicine generally. It is a complex and nuanced story that cannot be explained by technological innovation or market incentives alone.'
Charles Rosenberg, Harvard University

'A most substantial and illuminating contribution, not only to the history of neurology, but also to our understanding of scientific-medical disciplines and the relationship of science to its broader context. Casper uses the confusing and often contradictory usages of the words "neurology" and "neurologist" by historical actors in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as points of departure for a convincing and richly contextualized historical account of neurology and the dynamics of specialization.'
Professor Daniel Todes, The Johns Hopkins University|This book is an able work of scholarship. [...] It is an impressive and cogent analysis with a persuasive aura throughout of attention to detail. I commend it warmly.
, John Walton (Lord Walton of Detchant), Brain: A Journal of Neurology, Book Review, 26 August 2014|The neurologists, a history of a medical speciality in modern Britain, c.1789-2000 is the title of a hardback by Stephen T Casper (I(SBN 978-0-7190-9192-6) published by Manchester University Press. Several recent books on the history of the neurosciences have appeared but this volume differs particularly in that it deals with the speciality in Britain and shows the evolution from the early areas of general medicine through specialisation, to the early clinicians at the turn of the 1800s into the 1900s, the war years and the separation from psychiatry, to the first specialists in the National Health Service, to the generation now reaching retirement age, and to those who are deep in the science and who have not known the era before satisfactory imaging, neurophysiology and neurochemistry. A long evolution and a fascinating story. Casper comments 'while many physicians and scientists have engaged with the history of their fields, I think there are few academic disciplines or clinical specialities where that is so especially the case as it is for neurology'.

, Journal of Medical Biography, Nov issue, 12 June 2015

'The book is thoughtful about its theme and supported with a wealth of historical detail based on archival records; and it engages with a wide range of secondary literature.'
Roger Smith, Moscow (RU), Gesnerus 73/2 (2016)

'Casper provides a marvellous and perceptive analysis of the need to understand past conflicts, contrasts, and alliances between specialist groups in their own terms.'
Tara H. Abraham, Department of History, University of Guelph, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, June 2017 -- .