How did the challenge and the timetable of America's westward expansion
affect American medical practice? What have the principles and
obligations of American democracy brought to the character of American
medicine? How have America's geography and climate, as well as its
racial and economic diversity, led to differing outlooks on health and
medicine?
Medicine in America James Cassedy explores America's medical
"distinctiveness" and follows medical and health-related matters from
colonial times to the present. Through four chronological chapters,
Cassedy focuses on broad aspects of the American medical scene: the work
and ideas of the "orthodox" physician and the formation of America's
medical establishment; non establishment health activities, including
self-medication, therapeutic sects, and organized movements to promote
nutrition and fitness; the health-related sciences, along with their
institutions and accomplishments; governmental involvement in medical
care, licensing, research, sanitation, and public health; and the
varying "health environments" of rural, small town, urban, and transient
populations.
As he examines events in the context of political, social, economic,
industrial, and other historical realities, Cassedy shows the rise of
orthodox medicine in the United States through its increasing
professionalization and the establishment of medical institutions. He
follows the expanding role of government in the advancement and
regulation of health care, and the explosion of public health problems
that accompanied urbanization. He also explores how regional, racial,
social, and economic differences determined access to healthcare.
Medicine in America is a valuable introduction that links the history
of medicine, health, and disease in the United States to the larger
events in U.S. social history.
