Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600-2000

Medicine is concerned with the most intimate aspects of private life. Yet it is also a focus for diverse forms of public organization and action. In this volume, an international team of scholars use the techniques of medical history to analyse the changing boundaries and constitution of the public sphere from early modernity to the present day.In a series of detailed historical case studies, contributors examine the role of various public institutions - both formal and informal, voluntary and s