Table of Contents

Introduction: Bad Medicine/Better Medicine
Part I: The Hippocratic Tradition
1: Hippocrates and Galen
2: Ancient Anatomy
3: The Canon
4: The Senses
Conclusion to Part I: The Placebo Effect
Part II: Revolution Postponed
5: Vesalius and Dissection
6: Harvey and Vivisection
7: The Invisible World
Conclusion to Part II: Trust Not the Physician
Part III: Modern Medicine
8: Counting
9: Birth of the Clinic
10: The Laboratory
11: John Snow and Colera
12: Puerperal Fever
13: Joseph Lister and Antiseptic Surgery
14: Alexander Fleming and Penicillin
Conclusion to Part III: Progress Delayed
Part Four: After Contagion
15: Doll, Bradford Hill, and Lung Cancer
16: Death Deferred
Conclusion
Epilogue: in response to the critics
Further Reading
Index

About the Author

David Wootton is Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York. He has published widely in early modern intellectual history, particularly on the history of political thought, and is a regular reviewer for the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement.

Reviews

This book is provocative and well written; it leaves you wanting to find out more. Sameer Rahim, Daily Telegraph Bad Medicine is provocative and iconoclastic; essential reading for every GP. PD Smith, The Guardian