Synopses & Reviews
Cholera was the classic epidemic disease of the nineteenth century, as the plague had been for the fourteenth. Its defeat was a reflection not only of progress in medical knowledge but of enduring changes in American social thought. Rosenberg has focused his study on New York City, the most highly developed center of this new society. Carefully documented, full of descriptive detail, yet written with an urgent sense of the drama of the epidemic years, this narrative is as absorbing for general audiences as it is for the medical historian. In a new Afterword, Rosenberg discusses changes in historical method and concerns since the original publication of
The Cholera Years.
"A major work of interpretation of medical and social thought . . . this volume is also to be commended for its skillful, absorbing presentation of the background and the effects of this dread disease."—I.B. Cohen, New York Times
"The Cholera Years is a masterful analysis of the moral and social interest attached to epidemic disease, providing generally applicable insights into how the connections between social change, changes in knowledge and changes in technical practice may be conceived."—Steven Shapin, Times Literary Supplement
"In a way that is all too rarely done, Rosenberg has skillfully interwoven medical, social, and intellectual history to show how medicine and society interacted and changed during the 19th century. The history of medicine here takes its rightful place in the tapestry of human history."—John B. Blake, Science
Review
and#8220;This is a valuable and interesting book that willand#160;be of interest to scholars from many fields. Itand#160;makes a contribution to cholera studies but, moreand#160;importantly, it adds new dimensions to the sociologicaland#160;literature on medical professionalisation.and#160;Furthermore, Whooleyand#8217;s conceptualisation of theand#160;epistemic contest, elaborated in his concludingand#160;chapter, should prove useful in analysing manyand#160;intellectual debates. I expect we will see it utilisedand#160;repeatedly by future scholars.and#8221;
Review
"Knowledge in the Time of Cholera is a provocative book, sweeping in scope and valuable for bringing the interpretive insights of the sociology of knowledge to bear on nineteenth-century medicine."
Review
andldquo;There are books on the history of cholera, on the laboratory and scientific networks, and on epistemology and science, but none like this one. Owen Whooley has produced a truly original book, an important intervention in science studies, history of medicine, and nineteenth-century American society and culture.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Owen Whooley has gone after big game! Knowledge in the Time of Cholera is bold and assertive, forcing a reconsideration of the historical and sociological relationships between medicine and science, and providing an impressive analysis of the deeply intertwined development of these two professions.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;Whooley provides a sustained attack on traditional narratives of the straight-line upward trajectory of scientific discovery and professionalization of physicians. . . . [This] book is for those who relish academic combat and can delve into notions of epistemology wielded as weapons of control.and#8221;
Synopsis
IntroductionPart 1: 1832I. The Epidemic: 1832II. God's Justice?III. Or Man's Injustice?IV. The Medical Profession IV. Aldermen and CholeraPart 2: 1849VI. The Epidemic: 1849VII. Religion, Science, and ProgressVIII. The Nature of Poverty and the Prevention of DiseaseIX. The Medical Profession IIPart 3: 1866X. America After the WarXI. The Metropolitan Board of HealthXII. The Gospel of Public HealthXIII. Conclusion: The Way We Live NowAfterword, 1987Annotated BibliographyIndex
Synopsis
Vomiting. Diarrhea. Dehydration. Death. Confusion. In 1832, the arrival of cholera in the United States created widespread panic throughout the country. For the rest of the century, epidemics swept through American cities and towns like wildfire, killing thousands. Physicians of all stripes offered conflicting answers to the cholera puzzle, ineffectively responding with opiates, bleeding, quarantines, and all manner of remedies, before the identity of the dreaded infection was consolidated under the germ theory of disease some sixty years later.
These cholera outbreaks raised fundamental questions about medical knowledge and its legitimacy, giving fuel to alternative medical sects that used the confusion of the epidemic to challenge both medical orthodoxy and the authority of the still-new American Medical Association. In Knowledge in the Time of Cholera, Owen Whooley tells us the story of those dark days, centering his narrative on rivalries between medical and homeopathic practitioners and bringing to life the battle to control public understanding of disease, professional power, and democratic governance in nineteenth-century America.
About the Author
Owen Whooley is assistant professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: 1832
I. The Epidemic: 1832
II. God's Justice?
III. Or Man's Injustice?
IV. The Medical Profession I
V. Aldermen and Cholera
Part 2: 1849
VI. The Epidemic: 1849
VII. Religion, Science, and Progress
VIII. The Nature of Poverty and the Prevention of Disease
IX. The Medical Profession II
Part 3: 1866
X. America After the War
XI. The Metropolitan Board of Health
XII. The Gospel of Public Health
XIII. Conclusion: The Way We Live Now
Afterword, 1987
Annotated Bibliography
Index