Stuttering: A Short History of a Curious Disorder

This work critically analyzes a broad range of contributions throughout history on stuttering that penetrates the layers of accrued lore about the disorder. Stuttering remains an enigma largely because so much of the discourse about it consists of conjecture, facile assumptions, and unwarranted contentions. More than a recounting of the historical records of stuttering, this book documents the circumstances and influences that have operated to keep knowledge about stuttering at a predominantly pre-scientific level of inquiry. It brings into focus, for the first time, cultural-intellectual contexts that have strongly influenced beliefs regarding the disorder.

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures Preface Introduction Long Ago and Far Away Eoanthropus to Anno Domini Anno Domini to 1700 The Significant Interim 1700-1900 Early Twentieth Century "Modern Times" A Decade of Formative Transition A View with Room Still Wandering The Legacy Other Dimensions Denouement Synopsis and Sequelae Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author :
MARCEL E. WINGATE is Professor, Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, Washington State University. As a clinical psychologist, he became interested in stuttering in an era when it was almost universally considered to be psychological in origin.

Review :
"[A] thoughtful and scholarly presentation of an important topic. This impressive book is a welcome contribution to the current state of knowledge about stuttering."-Maryann Peins, Professor Emerita of Speech Pathology Douglass College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey "[Wingate's] unrelenting quest for truth on the nature of stuttering takes the reader on a journey from ancient philosophic to modern scientific efforts to explain humanness, speech, and defects thereof.....While the book is enjoyable reading for a broad audience, it is especially enlightening for clinicians, professors, and other students of this 'curious disorder.'"-Curtis E. Hamre Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University "As a geneticist, I value the perspective Dr. Wingate's historical treatment of stuttering provides.... [His] ability to interweave historical information with expert commentary on the local perspectives of time and place, as well as his no-nonsense evaluations of the contributions that the theories of the time make to our understanding of the nature of stuttering will be appreciated by both lay and scientific readers."-Nancy J. Cox Assistant Professor of Medicine, The University of Chicago "Perhaps the best known thinker around the intricacies of stuttering, Marcel Wingate has condensed centuries of information on stuttering into an amazingly readable, often surprising, and always enjoyable book."-Colleen B. Wilcox Superintendent of Schools Santa Clara County, California "The book is totally an enjoyable read stylistically and a solid contribution to the historical tracings and current assertions about intervention strategies which should prove useful to academians, clinicians, and bearers of one of the most enigmatic disorders of communication."-Robert E. Potter, Professor Department of Applied Behavioral and Communication Disorders University of Oregon ?Enlightening and carefully documented. It is well written and would be enjoyable to a student, practitioner, or person who stutters.?-Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists ?This is a book that clinicians who deal with stuttering will find interesting and provocative to read.?-ASHA Leader "This is a book that clinicians who deal with stuttering will find interesting and provocative to read."-ASHA Leader "Enlightening and carefully documented. It is well written and would be enjoyable to a student, practitioner, or person who stutters."-Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists