Chart[s] a remarkable medical revolution taking place throughout seventeenth-century England. Historians of early modern medicine should thank him for that.

JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES

The results of this meticulous and painstaking research are persuasive and have far-reaching implications for the social history of medical care of the dying.

SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE

Mortimer's book is a feat of statistical organisation. He has deftly and meticulously analysed thousands of probate records, using complex and subtle quantities techniques. [...] It is a valuable contribution to the history of medicine, and succeeds in its aim to draw attention to the hitherto acknowledged rise in the employment of doctors at times of grave illness.

LOCAL POPULATION STUDIES

A work of great clarity and elegance, and provides the bedrock on which social history must be based.

TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT

A must for any studying the history of science or subjects related to the Renaissance and Industrial Revolutions.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW