The Enlightenment, as concept and time period, was haunted by ambiguities about the relationships between mind and body, humans and the natural world, and reason and imagination. The 18th century was inherently contradictory, particularly when it came to ideas about medicine and the body. The growing optimism that medicine and science could control nature and disease was counterbalanced by the hierarchies of gender, race and class being fixed on the body. Enlightenment ideals emphasized rationalism and expertise, but they existed alongside religious belief and everyday authority. Focusing on Western Europe, this volume examines disability and suffering, emotional and physical sensations, supernatural phenomena and scepticism, medical authority and expertise, biologization and power, and bodily and environmental regulation. Volume contributors have used a range of cultural history methodologies – from material history to discourse analysis – to examine the Enlightenment’s tensions. The book’s chapters centre on topics (Environment, Food, Disease, Animals, Objects, Experiences, Mind/Brain and Authority) that have encouraged contributors to reframe their assumptions about the history of medicine and the Enlightenment.
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Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
General Editors’ Preface, Roger Cooter
Introduction, Lisa Smith, Claudia Stein and Roger Cooter
1 Environment Erin Spinney
2 Food Emma Spary
3 Disease Lina Minous
4 Animals Monica Mattfeld
5 Objects Marieke Hendriksen
6 Experiences Micheline Louis-Courvoisier
7 Mind/Brain Claudia Stein and Roger Cooter
8 Authority Angela Haas
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index

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A comprehensive, thematic reference work covering the cultural history of medicine during the Enlightenment

The Cultural Histories are multi-volume sets that survey the social and cultural construction of specific subjects across six historical periods, broadly:

- Antiquity
- The Medieval Age
- The Early Modern Age
- The Age of Enlightenment
- The Age of Empire
- The Modern Age

The subjects covered range from Animals to Dress and Fashion, from Sport to Furniture, from Money to Fairy Tales. Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters so that readers may gain an understanding of a period by reading an entire volume, or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Each six-volume set is illustrated.

Titles are available as printed sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).

PRAISE FOR THE SERIES
A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion
“Intriguing, surprising, and thought-provoking essays covering many cultural layers of dress history.”
CHOICE

A Cultural History of Fairy Tales
“A comprehensive treatise that belongs in every academic library concerned with a form of literature that has had broad appeal for centuries and continues to do so.”
CHOICE

A Cultural History of Hair
“A thick, tangled and deliciously idiosyncratic history of hair.”
Times Literary Supplement

A Cultural History of Law
“These introductions should be of great use to scholars from across the periods.”
Law & Literature

A Cultural History of Peace
“The set is a good introduction to the study of peace and encourages looking at world history in a new way.”
CHOICE

A Cultural History of Theatre
“All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal.”
CHOICE

A Cultural History of Tragedy
“A highly contemporary work, alert to politics, social theory and sexuality.”
London Review of Books

A Cultural History of Western Empires
“Students seeking a comparative, interdisciplinary, and compelling account of the spread of Western empires will find much of interest here.”
CHOICE

A Cultural History of Work
“[Programs] such as economics, American and world history, women’s studies, and art history will benefit from the information herein.”
American Reference Books Annual

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781472569905
Publisert
2023-02-09
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Academic
Vekt
620 gr
Høyde
248 mm
Bredde
174 mm
Dybde
18 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
248

Biografisk notat

Lisa Smith is Lecturer in Digital History at the University of Essex, UK.