Showing titles in History & Commentary

Lindsey Fitzharris' Buch "Der Horror der frühen Medizin" war ein internationaler Erfolg, wurde in 15 Sprachen übersetzt und stand 19 Wochen lang auf der SPIEGEL-Bestsellerliste. Mit ihrem neuen Hörbuch entführt uns die Autorin zu den grausigen Anfänge der Schönheitschirurgie: Als Harold Gillies die Verheerungen des Ersten Weltkriegs mit eigenen Augen sieht, ist er schockiert. Zu viele junge Männer werden nach nur einem falschen Augenblick ihrem Schicksal überlassen: für immer entstellt, für immer Monster in den Augen der Gesellschaft.

In this panoramic account, we learn how great epidemics have not only led to enormous suffering and mass death but also changed the course of history. Humanity has struck back at the microbes: antibiotics and new vaccines have saved millions of lives. But the battle is far from won. We face increasing threats from new and unavoidable pandemics, antibiotic resistance, and even potential extraterrestrial microbes. Duel Without End is a fascinating journey through the long history of infection, from the dawn of life to humanity's future exploration of deep space. 

In June 1941, a pair of British scientists boarded a plane for America with World War II raging all around them. They carried a precious commodity - penicillin - and the knowledge that it would change history. Author Marc Landas uncovers the dark history behind the discovery, production, and distribution of penicillin and other antibiotics.

Venereal diseases exploded into an epidemic in World War II. This endangered the health and safety of our nation and our troops. In many recountings of this war, the fight against VD is not included, but it was a battle worth highlighting. Historically, infected women were blamed and jailed with or without treatment. During this time, hospital camps were set up on a national scale for women to be sequestered for treatment. Dr. George Smullen, my father, worked in two Florida Rapid Treatment Camps, and I am sharing some of my family's experiences when we lived there.

On savait que le cerveau était l'entité la plus complexe de l'univers connu. Mais les nouvelles découvertes démontrent que ses possibilités sont bien plus étonnantes qu'on ne le croyait. Non seulement il est totalement élastique - même âgé, handicapé, voire amputé, il peut se reconstruire, apprendre, inventer -, mais aussi totalement social - un cerveau n'existe qu'en résonance avec d'autres : nous sommes neuronalement constitués pour entrer en empathie.

Between 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte's Pure America, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. 

John C. Kendrew (1917-1997) was a pioneer in structural biology and a catalyst for the emergence of molecular biology in the second half of the 20th century. He was the first person to determine the three-dimensional structure of a protein at atomic resolution and, for this, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962. Kendrew ultimately became an international organizer, administrator, and advocate for science, and his expansive legacy lives on today.  

The Cancer Problem offers the first medical, cultural, and social history of cancer in 19th-century Britain. It argues that it was in the 19th century that cancer acquired the unique emotional, symbolic, and politicized status it maintains today. Through an interrogation of the construction, deployment, and emotional consequences of the disease's incurability, this book reframes our conceptualization of the relationship between medicine and modern life and reshapes our understanding of chronic and incurable maladies, both past and present. 

Heinrich Heine durchlebt 1832 in Paris die Zeit der Cholera und berichtet darüber für eine deutsche Zeitung. Zwischen Anteilnahme und Sarkasmus wechselnd beschreibt er des Volkes und der Behörden Umgang mit der Epidemie, dem der des 20sten Jahres im 21. Jahrhundert erschreckend ähnlich sieht.

Hippocrates earned the title “Father of Medicine” for his extensive work in ancient Greece. He effectively established medicine as a profession. Modern doctors still swear to uphold the ethical standards he laid out in the Hippocratic Oath. His work On Surgery provides a fascinating look into medical history and the historical practices of this great physician.

The Essence of Invention tells the story of medical inventors who have laid the foundation for modern patient care, from the development of anesthesia and safe surgery to the advent of vaccines against smallpox, polio, and COVID-19, and how, through creativity and persistence, they have changed the world.

It’s a Darien, Connecticut, tradition: an emergency medical service managed by adolescents. One kid is a varsity soccer captain. There’s a future doctor, a band dork, a theater geek. Theirs is a view of town without the niceties. A drunken spouse turned violent. Lonely old people stuck in the bath. A midlife suicide. How do these kids process the sometimes shocking and violent life-and-death secrets of their community? The answer is a story of high stress and uncommon high school lives, told by a writer who spent his own youth on the night shift. Welcome to Post 53.

Los microorganismos son bichos que conviven con la humanidad y que, por una parte, pueden matar en forma misteriosa y en silencio a millones de personas y por otra, son benéficos para la naturaleza y el ser humano. Esta obra habla de varios investigadores o cazadores de microbios nocivos, causantes estos de terribles enfermedades como la rabia, la tuberculosis, la difteria, la sífilis y el paludismo, entre otras.

In his award-winning debut essay collection, What Cannot Be Undone, Walter M. Robinson shares surprising stories of illness and medicine that do not sacrifice hard truth for easy dramatics. These true stories are filled with details of difficult days and nights in the world of high-tech medical care, and they show the ongoing struggle in making critical decisions with no good answer. This collection presents the raw moments where his expertise in medical ethics and pediatrics are put to the test. 

In telling the history of women in medicine, the pioneers are rightly remembered and celebrated in books, articles, memorials, awards, names of buildings, and organizations. In contrast, the generation who began the transition from minority status to the current numerical equity are seldom...

Este volumen reúne los ensayos, La enfermedad y sus metáforas y El sida y sus metáforas, que siguen ejerciendo una influencia enorme en la reflexión médica y en las vidas de miles de pacientes y cuidadores.

In November 1942, Paul Andrew Kennedy (1912-1993) boarded the St. Elena in New York Harbor and sailed for Casablanca as part of Operation Torch, the massive Allied invasion of North Africa. As a member of the US Army's 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group, he spent the next 34 months working in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, in close proximity to the front lines and often under air or artillery bombardment. He was uncomfortable, struck by the sorrows of war, and homesick for his wife.

The average individual is far more likely to die in a car accident than from a communicable disease...yet we are still much more fearful of the epidemic. Even at our most level-headed, the thought of an epidemic can inspire terror. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question - or the actual risks of contagion - but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood.

In Herding Immunity, Stacy Mintzer Herlihy explores the compelling history of vaccines and the equally long history of vaccination opposition. By connecting the contemporary anti-vax movement with its historical roots, Herlihy integrates modern conversations and reveals the profound impact vaccines have had on our society, highlighting the urgent need for societal change to ensure equitable vaccination for all.

Again and again, microbes have shaped our health, our genetics, our history, our culture, our politics, even our religion and ethics. This book reveals much that scientists and cultural historians have learned about the pervasive interconnections between infectious microbes and humans. It also considers what our ongoing fundamental relationship with infectious microbes might mean for the future of the human species.