Lanterna Rally

Author: Esteban Rodríguez Ocaña

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13:

This collection of ten essays investigates the rationale of (public) health interventions from the nineteenth century through to the late twentieth century. It explores a variety of national and international contexts that range from imperial and colonial confrontation to the founding of the World Health Organisation. Social medicine is a particularly prominent theme, revealing how in the course of a century the once clear distinction between prevention and care came to be so blurred. This collection of ten essays investigates the rationale of (public) health interventions from the nineteenth century through to the late twentieth century. It explores a variety of national and international contexts that range from imperial and colonial confrontation to the founding of the World Health Organisation. Social medicine is a particularly prominent theme, revealing how in the course of a century the once clear distinction between prevention and care came to be so blurred. By bringing together leading scholars in the fields of social history, history of medicine, psychiatry, history of science, demography and geography, this book shows how religious beliefs, welfare politics, professional associations and the challenges of war have contributed to the shifting political arena, especially at an international level. The result is a volume which not only enhances our understanding of modern society, but also helps to clarify the cultural meaning of medicine as a historical agent.