Medicine in the Twentieth Century

During the twentieth century, medicine has been radically transformed and powerfully transformative. In 1900, western medicine was important to philanthropy and public health, but it was marginal to the state, the industrial economy and the welfare of most individuals. It is now central to these aspects of life. Our prospects seem increasingly dependent on the progress of bio-medical sciences and genetic technologies which promise to reshape future generations. The editors of Medicine in the Twentieth Century have commissioned over forty authoritative essays, written by historical specialists but intended for general audiences. Some concentrate on the political economy of medicine and health as it changed from period to period and varied between countries, others focus on understandings of the body, and a third set of essays explores transformations in some of the theatres of medicine and the changing experiences of different categories of practitioners and patients.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Introduction Section 2: Power 1. Production, Community and Consumption: The Politcal Economy of Tentieth Century Medicine 2. The Golden Age of Medicine? Science and Medicine, 1880-2000 3. Health and Medicine in Interwar Europe 4. Soviet Medicine 5. Colonial Medicine 6. Health and Healthcare in the Progressive Era 7. History of Post-Colonial Medicine 8. Medicine and Counter-Culture 9. Medicine and th eWelfare State 1930-1970 10. The Pharmaceutical Industry in the Twentieth Century 11. Medicine, Technology and Industry 12. Welfare States Section 3: Bodies 1. The Historiographical Body 2. The Healthy Body 3. The Industrial Body 4. The 'Third World Body' 5. The Temporal Body 6. The Sexual Body 7. The Reproductive Body 8. The Psychological body 9. The Psychoanalytic body 10. The Psychiatric Body 11. The Diseased Body 12. The Disabled Body 13. The Genetic Body 14. The Analysed Body 15. The Experimental Body 16. The Ethical Body 16. The Dead Body Section 4: Experiences 1. Media 2. Hospitals 3. Nurses 4. Health Workers 5. Going to the Doctor 6. Childbirth and Maternity 7. Children's Experience of Illness 8. Wars 9. Supported Lives 10. Old Age 11. Mental Illness 12. Surgeons 13. Cancer 14. AIDS and Patient/Support Groups 15. Malaria 16. The Chinese Experience

About the Author :
Roger Cooter and John V. Pickstone

Review :
'Was the twentieth century really the 'golden age' of medicine? The difficulty is that the field is too vast for any individual to answer this question - and until now, no comprehensive treatment of the era has been available. 'Medicine in the Twentieth Century' triumphantly overcomes this dilemma. Its wide-ranging coverage by over 40 world experts is not limited to western medicine, but includes consideration of the Third World, China, and the Soviet Union. No serious student of the era can afford to be without it.' - Stephen Lock, MD, Professor of Medicine and Editor of the British Medical Journal 1975-1991. 'A tour de force - this expansive synthesis is the best and most ambitious exploration we have of medicine in the twentieth-century. The nearly four dozen contributors that Cooter and Pickstone have commissioned to fill their bold canvas are historiographically sophisticated and thoroughly engaging. This book is indispensable reading for anyone who wants to understand the place and power of medicine in twentieth-century culture and the ongoing debates surrounding the nature of medicine in modern society' - John Harley Warner, Yale University. 'The 46 chapters in this book are interesting and well written....The scholarship is apparent and individual chapters combine to create a well-balanced history of twentieth century medicine.' - E-Streams 'This volume poses enough salient questions to set research agendas for some time." - W.F. Bynum, University College London. 'Was the twentieth century really the 'golden age' of medicine? The difficulty is that the field is too vast for any individual to answer this question - and until now, no comprehensive treatment of the era has been available.Medicine in the Twentieth Centurytriumphantly overcomes this dilemma. Its wide-ranging coverage by over 40 world experts is not limited to western medicine, but includes consideration of the Third World, China, and the Soviet Union. No serious student of the era can afford to be without it.' -Stephen Lock, MD, Professor of Medicine and Editor of the British Medical Journal 1975-1991. 'The 46 chapters in this book are interesting and well written....The scholarship is apparent and individual chapters combine to create a well-balanced history of twentieth century medicine.' -E-Streams