Linda L. Barnes is Associate Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, and Visiting Lecturer in Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
[A] fascinating account of how China, the Chinese, and Chinese
healing practices were imagined in the West from the late Middle
Ages through to the mid-nineteenth century. [Barnes] has written a
lively and compelling account that demonstrates that Chinese
traditional medicine has a lengthy and important role in the
development of medical discourse in the West. This work will serve
as the starting point for the next generation of scholars.--Robert
John Perrins "Social History of Medicine "
Barnes has given us the first systematic account, encompassing a
broad sweep of history, of the evolution of Western ideas about
healing practices in China...The goals, organization, and
scholarship in this book are both interesting and impressive...As a
bibliographic tour-de-force it is a remarkable book that I welcome
to my shelf.--William C. Summers"Journal of the American Medical
Association" (08/09/2006)
Barnes has pulled together an amazing range of Western-language
sources, shown in her sixty-two-page bibliography. Like the travel
and exploration narratives she draws on, her account is packed with
descriptions and anecdotes that flesh out the early history of
European curiosity about this most remote region of the
Orient...Her concern that the general reader grasp culture and
context makes this book highly readable.--Charlotte Furth "Isis
"
If you have ever wondered how and when Chinese medicine made its
way to the "West," this is the book for you. Linda Barnes, a
medical anthropologist and comparative religionist, has assembled a
massive compendium of sources from which she recreates the
checkered story of European perceptions of and attitudes toward
China and Chinese concepts of medicine from the early thirteenth
century to 1848 A.D.. "Needles, Herbs, Gods, and Ghosts" is a "tour
de force" and will especially please any reader with a strong
historical bent and/or a deep interest in intercultural
communication, particularly as it concerns medical practice.--Mary
Ann Liebert "Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
"
This fascinating book reveals how western conceptions of religion,
race and medicine have distorted images of China and its healing
traditions...Barnes's approach should not only be an inspiration to
all who seek to take seriously the interpretative lenses through
which western culture apprehends others; but also stimulate those
interested in comparative history and philosophy of medicine to
appreciate the philosophical assumptions behind Chinese medicine as
a distinct philosophy radically different from its western
counterpart, not merely an aspect of Chinese religion, and hence to
understand Chinese medicine as it was.--Kenny Can Liao"Medical
History" (04/01/2007)
This insightful and richly documented study by Linda Barnes
explores how Western conceptualizations of the healing traditions
of China have historically reflected the broader cultural trends
and assumptions that have shaped European and American attitudes
towards Chinese civilization. Drawing upon an impressive array of
writings and correspondence produced over the centuries by Western
scholars, merchants, and missionaries, Barnes undertakes a
chronological analysis of evolving perceptions of Chinese medicine
and associated aspects of Chinese culture from the mid-thirteenth
to the mid-nineteenth centuries...Barnes's study of China, healing,
and the West makes a significant contribution to our understanding
of the complex dynamics of Sino-Western cultural relations. Her
vast knowledge of the history of both Western and Chinese medicine
and her comprehensive mastery of the cultural history of these
contrasting civilizations provide her readers with a convincingly
analyzed overview of how
When did the West discover Chinese healing traditions? Most people
might point to the "rediscovery" of Chinese acupuncture in the
1970s. But in "Needles, Herbs, Gods, and Ghosts", Linda Barnes
leads us back to the 13th century. There she uncovers the neglected
story of the West's earliest known encounters with Chinese
religion, medicine, and healing..."Needles, Herbs, Gods, and
Ghosts" is thoroughly academic with more than 60 pages of
references; and places today's practitioners of
complementary/alternative medicine into historical context. It will
certainly be of value to acupuncturists and practitioners of
Chinese traditional medicine who would like to know more of the
history of their healing methods...A monumental work that brings
together erudite scholarship and enticing travelogue.--Ted Kaptchuk
"British Naturopathic Journal "
ÝA¨ fascinating account of how China, the Chinese, and Chinese
healing practices were imagined in the West from the late Middle
Ages through to the mid-nineteenth century. ÝBarnes¨ has written a
lively and compelling account that demonstrates that Chinese
traditional medicine has a lengthy and important role in the
development of medical discourse in the West. This work will serve
as the starting point for the next generation of scholars. --
Robert John Perrins "Social History of Medicine"
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