Disease and Medicine in World History

Drawing on case studies from ancient Egypt to present-day America, Asia and Europe, Sheldon Watts presents this concise introduction to diverse ideas about diseases and their treatment throughout the world.

Sheldon Watts is a visiting professor of history at the American University in Cairo. He is the author of Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism (Yale, 1997).

Preface, Acknowledgments, 1 Sickness and health, a global concern, 2 Before the advent of acute epidemic diseases. Pharaonic Egypt and the pre-conquest New World: extinct societies, 3 Pluralism in ancient Greece, 4 The evolution of medical systems in the Middle East c. 632 CE to modern times, 5 Health and disease on the Indian subcontinent before 1869, 6 Medicine and disease in China: concepts and practices from c. 1900 BCE to 1840 CE, 7 The globalization of disease after 1450, 8 Medicine and disease in the West, 1050-1840, 9 The birth of modern scientific medicine: the German lands contrasted with the United Kingdom and the British in India, 10 Health and medicine in the world, 1940 to the present, Bibliography, Index