Medicine and Western Civilization

This fabulous anthology is sure to be a core text for history of medicine and social science classes in colleges across the country. In order to demonstrate how medical research has influenced Western cultural perspectives, the editors have collected original works from 61 different authors around nine major themes (among them "Anatomy and Destiny," "Psyche and Soma," and "The Construction of Pain, Suffering, and Death"). The authors range from Aristotle, the Bible, and Louis Pasteur, to Masters and Johnson, Ernest Hemingway, and Simone de Beauvoir. The primary sources selected to illustrate the themes are well chosen and contrast with each other nicely. However, the brief background material for the selections center around the authors and offer little or no discussion about the selections' relevance to the topics at hand. This book would be best read in a class or group where the texts' meaning in relation to each other can be discussed, but the book can stand alone if the reader is prepared to do some critical thinking.

Author: David J. Rothman, Stephanie Kiceluk
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 12/01/1995
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780813521909

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 12/01/1995 pg. 144