, Palgrave Usa, 2004 Hardcover dusjacket, 241 pages, English, 140x216 mm. ISBN 9781403915696.
A pioneering contribution to the cultural history of medicine exploring issues as diverse as dissection of the heart, childbirth, masturbation, animal care, hermaphrodites, orthopaedics, 'miracle' drugs, smallpox and sex advice in different European cultures from the 1600s to the present day. Each case study illustrates various roles of mediation; reconciling conflicting ideas in the medical encounter; as an instrument of domination, or conversely, of resistance. Roy Porter's brilliant foreword conveys the methodological significance as well as the pleasure of these essays.