Why We Need the History of Health and Medicine

All of us, at some point in our lives, need medicine: to heal sickness, to ease pain, to deliver new life, or to help manage our inevitable decline. But do we also need the history of health and medicine? Can patients and practitioners from hundreds of years ago really help us through our suffering today?In this wide-ranging (and eye-opening) book, historian Matthew Smith says that the answer is a resounding 'yes'. Drawing upon stories from India to Canada and from Ancient Rome to today, he argues that historical insights should play a much more significant role in shaping health policy and clinical practice. Many of the lessons of modern medicine tell us to switch our focus from treating disease to preventing it; history, however, shows us that the best ways to improve health are not always medical interventions. Instead, addressing social problems, healing our beleaguered environment, paying attention to the insights of non-Western medicine, and listening to patients all have the potential to revolutionize care. Fundamentally hopeful at its core, Why We Need the History of Health and Medicine is essential reading for anyone interested in medicine's past, as well as how we might make the future of health brighter.