Medical History

by Ian Miller

Overview

This introductory textbook presents medical history as a theoretically rich discipline, one that constantly engages with major social questions about ethics, bodies, state power, disease, public health and mental disorder. Providing both instructors and students with an account of the changing nature of medical history research since it first emerged as a distinct discipline in 19th century Germany, this essential guide covers the theoretical development of medical history and evaluates the various approaches adopted by doctors, historians and sociologists.

Synthesising historiographical material ranging from the 19th to 21st centuries, this is an ideal resource for postgraduate students from History and History of Medicine degrees taking courses on historiography, the theory of history and medical history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781352002713
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/15/2018
Series:	Theory and History , #1
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.42(d)

About the Author

Ian Miller is Lecturer in History at Ulster University, UK
Ian Miller is Lecturer in History at Ulster University, UK

Table of Contents

Preface
1. History of Medical History
2. Disease
3. Mental Well-Being
4. Health
5. Eating
6. Global Health
7. Patients
8. The limits of medicine: ethics and technologies
9. Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Ian Miller provides an insightful and accessible guide to many of the emerging and enduring themes in the history of medicine. Medical History will be an important introduction to the field for years to come. – Martin Moore, University of Exeter, UK

In this reflexive tour de force, Miller not only provides a comprehensive overview of the most interesting topics discussed by historians of medicine over the past three decades, but also places their work in their specific historical contexts. – Hans Pols, University of Sydney, Australia

The main contribution of the book is that it focusses on the discipline of medical history as a whole and explores some of its key themes, such as disease, patients, global health, diet, and ethics. This will allow the book to become an invaluable resource for postgraduate and undergraduate teaching as well as research. – Pratik Chakrabarti, University of Manchester, UK

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Alain Touwaide, PhD (Ronin Institute)
Description: Instead of a traditional linear history of medicine, moving from the most remote past up through yesterday, this is a chronological-analytical history organized in nine thematic chapters covering major topics such as disease, mental well-being, health, and eating. To these relatively unsurprising themes, the book adds more recent topics such as global health, patients, and ethics and technologies.
Purpose: The history of medicine has been increasingly of interest among both professionals and the general audience. This book offers an introduction to the history of medicine aimed to sustain this interest. This is not only a much-needed contribution, but also a timely one.
Audience: This is a small book (184 pages) built on a simple template (nine chapters of almost the same length), each of which is clearly divided into subunits with a conclusion. The whole work concludes with some notes, a very useful glossary, and a short, yet effective list of further readings followed by a light index. With this simple structure and a clear and fluid presentation of topics, this introduction to the history of medicine will be useful to a broad range of readers, from professionals to students (be they in the humanities, medicine, or science), as well as general readers interested in getting a better understanding of where medicine in its current form comes from.
Features: The book is thematically divided in two implicit major parts. After an introduction to the history of the history of medicine as an academic discipline, the first part covers the "matter of medicine," which is (not in the order of the book), health, disease, eating (which, in fact, is preservation of health), and mental well-being. That is, mind and body. The second part reflects the more recent evolution of medicine by introducing patients (and their empowerment in medicine) and, as a corollary, medical ethics, global health, and technology of medicine. It is recent history, which completes the traditional analysis of medicine as the science of the body, its function and its dysfunction. It is interesting to note that therapeutics and surgery are absent.
Assessment: Correct understanding of the current state of medicine — and, possibly, appreciation of medicine — is more than ever necessary, if not indispensable. This book will contribute to both understanding and appreciation, all the more because it is short, in a handy format, and reads easily. It will both satisfy the curiosity of general readers and serve as a starting point for more inquisitive minds.

Doody's Review Service

Ian Miller provides an insightful and accessible guide to many of the emerging and enduring themes in the history of medicine. Medical History will be an important introduction to the field for years to come.
Martin Moore, University of Exeter, UK

In this reflexive tour de force, Miller not only provides a comprehensive overview of the most interesting topics discussed by historians of medicine over the past three decades, but also places their work in their specific historical contexts.
Hans Pols, University of Sydney, Australia

The main contribution of the book is that it focusses on the discipline of medical history as a whole and explores some of its key themes, such as disease, patients, global health, diet, and ethics. This will allow the book to become an invaluable resource for postgraduate and undergraduate teaching as well as research.
Pratik Chakrabarti, University of Manchester, UK

From the Publisher