Medicine and Modernity: Public Health and Medical Care in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany

by Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks

Overview

This collection addresses, in a comprehensive and critical fashion, fundamental issues in the history of medicine in modern Germany and considers the nature of modern German government and society in relation to Western social, political, and economic development. The central focus is on the professionalization of modern medicine and the medicalization of modern society. The problem of Nazi Germany is a recurring theme. Other topics include: hospitals in early nineteenth century society, Social Darwinism, state-run health insurance, eugenics, social control, Nazi experimentation, and the postwar medical leadership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521564113
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/28/1997
Series:	Publications of the German Historical Institute
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction Geoffrey Cocks; 1. To benefit the poor and advance medical science: hospitals and hospital care in Germany, 1820–70 Johanna Bleker; 2. From traditional individualism to collective professionalism: state, patient, compulsory health insurance and the panel doctor question in Germany, 1883–1931 Alfons Labisch; 3. In search of German social Darwinism Richard J. Evans; 4. Modern German doctors Charles E. McClelland; 5. The mentally ill patient caught between the state's demands and the professional interests of psychiatrists Heinz-Peter Schmiedebach; 6. Rationalizing the therapeutic arsenal Paul Lerner; 7. Sterilization and 'medical' massacres in National Socialist Germany Gisela Bock; 8. The Nuremberg doctors' trial and the German Sonderweg as harbinger Geoffrey Cocks; 9. The debate that will not end: the politics of abortion Atina Grossman; 10. The sewering scandal of 1993 and the German medical establishment Michael H. Kater.

Editorial Reviews

Medicine and Modernity brings recent German medical history to life, making it conveniently available for readers not able to read the growing literature in German. If there are any lessons in history, this collection may be a good place to look for them.

Journal of the American Medical Association

"...rich in information and insight....The book's contributions to the field should prove useful to anyone interested in the subject." Vincent A. Clark, German Studies Review

"But because it takes wider views, and contains some excellent new essays, I can recommend Medicine and Modernity to both historians and physicians." Nick Hopwood, Lancet

"We have, then, very rich fare. Medicine and Modernity brings recent German medical history to life, making it conveniently available for readers not able to read the growing literature in German. If there are any lessons in history, this collection may be a good place to look for them." Gert H. Brieger, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association

"...this collection of essays is a welcome addition to the otherwise sparse English-language literature on the history of German medicine." Eric J. Engstrom, Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History

From the Publisher