Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

English

Dr. Risse brings the patient, pilgrim to the "foreign land" of hospitals, to the center of this magnificent, poignant history of medicine. Telling the experiences of actual patients, doctors, and others in hospitals at different times and in different places, Risse brings the hospital to life, vividly, as a place of rituals where some human beings struggle to live; others do the best they can in the face of available medical knowledge and often dangerous social conditions. A remarkable, moving, humane book — a major contribution to the history of medicine, and highly recommended for the general reader.