Medicine and Modernity

This collection of essays addresses, in a comprehensive and critical fashion, fundamental issues in the history of medicine in modern Germany. The essays also investigate important continuities and discontinuities in German history, and between Germany and the West. The central focus is on the professionalisation of modern medicine and the medicalisation of modern society. The problem of Nazi Germany is addressed in many of the essays, partly because of its influence on the debate over the nature of modern German government and society in relation to Western social, political, and economic development. Other topics include: the place of hospitals in the early nineteenth century, various forms of Social Darwinism, the politics of state-run health insurance, the influence of eugenics, social control and 'shell shock' in World War I, sterilization and euthanasia, Nazi experimentation, the abortion debate, and the role of former Nazis in the postwar medical leadership.

"...rich in information and insight....The book's contributions to the field should prove useful to anyone interested in the subject." Vincent A. Clark, German Studies Review, "But because it takes wider views, and contains some excellent new essays, I can recommend Medicine and Modernity to both historians and physicians." Nick Hopwood, Lancet, "We have, then, very rich fare. Medicine and Modernity brings recent German medical history to life, making it conveniently available for readers not able to read the growing literature in German. If there are any lessons in history, this collection may be a good place to look for them." Gert H. Brieger, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association, "...this collection of essays is a welcome addition to the otherwise sparse English-language literature on the history of German medicine." Eric J. Engstrom, Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History