Showing titles in History & Commentary

He has been called the greatest surgeon of the 20th century. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Michael DeBakey rose from humble beginnings in a backwater Louisiana town to dominate the landscape of modern medicine. His contributions to our understanding and treatment of cardiovascular disease, in particular, were innumerable and epoch-making. DeBakey led a life of high drama, from the streets of Jazz Age New Orleans and the operating theaters of pre-war Europe, to the battlefields of World War II and the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina.  

Between Hope and Fear tells the remarkable story of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and their social and political implications. While detailing the history of vaccine invention, Michael Kinch reveals the ominous reality that our victories against vaccine-preventable diseases are not permanent - and could easily be undone. Between Hope and Fear relates the remarkable intersection of science, technology, and disease that has helped eradicate many of the deadliest plagues known to man.

Dr. Lange graduated from medical school in 1981, right as a new plague swept across the globe. His story became intertwined with the story of HIV. At once a physician, scientist, AIDS activist, and medical diplomat, Lange studied ways to battle HIV and prevent its spread from mother to child. Fighting the injustices of poverty, Lange advocated for better access to health care for the poor and the vulnerable. The Impatient Dr. Lange is the story of one man's struggle against a global pandemic - and the tragic attack that may have slowed down the search for a cure.

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands is the bold, witty memoir of Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who defied racism and sexism to care for soldiers during the Crimean War in the 1850s. Writing in her own voice, Seacole recounts her travels across the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe, sharing vivid stories of healing, hardship, and independence.

Since 2010 it has been possible to determine a person's genetic makeup in a matter of days at an accessible cost for many millions of people. Along with this technological breakthrough there has emerged a movement to use this information to help prospective parents "eliminate preventable genetic disease." As the prospect of systematically excluding the appearance of unwanted mutations in our children comes within reach, David B. Goldstein examines the possible consequences from these types of choices.

A Family History of Illness is a gritty historical memoir that examines the body's immune system and microbial composition as well as the biological and cultural origins of memory and history, offering a startling, fresh way to view the role of history in understanding our physical selves.

كتاب الطب النبوي من مؤلفات ابن القيم والذي يعد من أشهر المؤلفات في الطب الإسلامي، ويتضمن فصول نافعة في الطب الذي تطبب به، ووصفه لغيره حيث يبين الكاتب فيه الحكمة...

The 2014 Ebola epidemic demonstrated the power of pandemics and their ability not only to destroy lives locally but also to capture the imagination and terrify the world. In 2019 and the years that followed, the coronavirus pandemic infected every continent and took the lives of millions. In this updated edition, Christian W. McMillen provides a concise yet comprehensive account of pandemics throughout human history, illustrating how pandemic disease has shaped history and, at the same time, social behavior has influenced pandemic disease.

When surgeons completed the world’s first hand transplant in 1998, it was supposed to be a moment of triumph. Never before had a dead man’s limb been grafted onto the living, and the possibilities for amputees, accident victims, and those born with congenital defects were nothing short of extraordinary. But the patient they chose—Clint Hallam, a businessman from New Zealand who longed to hold both of his children’s hands, embrace his wife, and play the piano again—wasn’t who he claimed to be.

Now more than 133 million Americans live with chronic illness, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all health care dollars, and untold pain and disability. There has been an alarming rise in illnesses that defy diagnosis through clinical tests or have no known cure. Millions of people, especially women, with illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome face skepticism from physicians and the public alike.

In Connective Tissue, Ryan Normandeau reveals the raw truth behind medical device sales, a field where missing a single screw can mean disaster and where most success stories happen off the record. From the chaos of the OR to the quiet power of mentorship, he shares how he built and sold two medical device companies before age forty, with no legacy, no connections, and no backup plan.

Surgeon Arnold van de Laar uses his own experience and expertise to tell this engrossing history of surgery through 28 famous operations—from Louis XIV and Einstein to JFK and Houdini. From the story of the desperate man from seventeenth-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own...

This program is read by the author. A renowned neurologist shares the true stories of people unable to get a good night’s rest in The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep, a fascinating exploration of the symptoms and syndromes behind sleep disorders. For Dr...

One of the last of the baby boomers, Dr Luke Gordon was born in the mining town of Boksburg, South Africa, to Catholic parents. He grew up the fourth of five children in a middle-class neighbourhood, raised in large part by his beloved nanny Sarah, who became a surrogate mother to him. His...

Is it smart to skip your annual physical? Should you put your trust in medical research? Is "low T" an actual disease? This book will examine these questions and more you've always wondered about in a collection of 50 essays on the medicine. The Doctor Will See You Now is a quirky and eclectic collection of short essays that explore evolving patient-physician relationship and reporting on medicine; famous doctors and notorious patients; surprising hospital practices and the future of healthcare; medical research, ethics, drugs, and money; and the brave new world of neurology.

When Jesus sent 70 disciples on ahead of him, part of their mission was to heal the sick. In fact, they were supposed to heal the sick before they preached the Gospel. Best-selling author Mike Aquilina calls this command the healing imperative. And it's an imperative that ushered in the world of modern medicine. In The Healing Imperative: The Early Church and the Invention of Medicine as We Know It, Aquilina reconstructs the fascinating history of a uniquely Christian institution: the hospital.

Christian W. McMillen provides a concise yet comprehensive account of pandemics throughout human history, illustrating how pandemic disease has shaped history and, at the same time, social behavior has influenced pandemic disease. 

Le docteur François Marquis, intensiviste bien connu du public, raconte son expérience de la pandémie. Écrit au « je », son livre nous plonge au coeur du quotidien dans l’unité des soins intensifs d’un hôpital universitaire, avec ses victoires, ses défaites, ses erreurs et ses bons coups. Ce récit d’une grande humilité, à la fois franc et nuancé, nous permet de mieux mesurer les enjeux de société soulevés par l’épreuve que nous traversons collectivement depuis plus d’un an.

Antebellum New Orleans sat at the heart of America's slave and cotton kingdoms. It was also where yellow fever epidemics killed as many as 150,000 people during the nineteenth century. With little understanding of mosquito-borne viruses, a person's only protection against the scourge was to "get acclimated" by surviving the disease. Repeated epidemics bolstered New Orleans's strict racial hierarchy by introducing another hierarchy, what Kathryn Olivarius terms "immunocapital." Whereas immunity conferred privilege on whites, it relegated enslaved people to the most grueling labor.

When a waiting world learned on April 12, 1955, that Jonas Salk had successfully created a vaccine to prevent poliomyelitis, he became a hero overnight. Born in a New York tenement, humble in manner, Salk had all the makings of a 20th-century icon - a knight in a white coat. In the wake of his achievement, he received a staggering number of awards and honors; for years his name ranked with Gandhi and Churchill on lists of the most revered people.