This book is brave and insightful and succeeds in raising the possibility that cultural histories of health must acknowledge the distinct vocabulary and sociocultural definitions that are inherent to specific disease states. It is full of potential leads and insights, reference and analysis that will be consulted time and time again.
Paul Weindling Science Weisz shows beautifully that concern ... Read morewith chronic diseases is hardly new.
Bill Bynum Lancet This is a valuable resource for all academic professionals in the health field, especially those in public policy. Choice This is a valuable study. It is the first long overview of the emergence of one of the most significant health policy issues in modern times. Chronic Illness As this book shows, chronic disease has long been neglected, by both health care systems and historians. Weisz took up the challenge of writing the history of a diffuse and undramatic concept, and has done it well.
David Jones Global Public Health The recent globalisation of 'chronic disease' serves to demonstrate the importance of Weisz's book not just for historians of medicine, but for policy makers and practitioners too. By highlighting the constructed nature of 'chronic disease' Weisz draws attention to the political foundations of a category too often taken for granted. Crisply written, clearly structure, and presenting a wealth of detail without ever overwhelming, this is sure to become a classic text.
Alex Mold Social History of Medicine The book is scholarly, builds on the work of prominent thinkers in the field such as Daniel Fox, and provides new insights on the history of American health care. Gesnerus Weisz has produced an intriguing and original argument that will be of great interest to historians of health care and health care policy, in both national and international contexts. Isis Show Less