Contagion and the State in Europe, 1830-1930 [Paperback]

A broad, panoramic study of the divergence in public health policies across Europe, 18301930.This book explains the historical reasons for the divergence in public health policies adopted in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, and the spectrum of responses to the threat of contagious diseases such as cholera, smallpox and syphilis. In particular the book examines the link between politics and prevention, and uses medical history to illuminate broader questions of the development of statutory intervention and the comparative and divergent evolution of the modern state in Europe.This book explains the historical reasons for the divergence in public health policies adopted in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, and the spectrum of responses to the threat of contagious diseases such as cholera, smallpox and syphilis. In particular the book examines the link between politics and prevention, and uses medical history to illuminate broader questions of the development of statutory intervention and the comparative and divergent evolution of the modern state in Europe.This book explains the historical reasons for the divergence in public health policies adopted in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, and the spectrum of responses to the threat of contagious diseases such as cholera, smallpox and syphilis. In particular the book examines the link between politics and prevention, and uses medical history to illuminate broader questions of the development of statutory intervention and the comparative and divergent evolution of the modern state in Europe.1. Preventive variations; 2. Enter cholera; 3. Cholera comes of age; 4. Smallpox faces the lancet; 5. Syphilis between prostitution and promiscuity; 6. The politics of prevention; Bibliography. I find this a quite dazzling work, imaginative in conception, broad in vision, amazingly erudite in execution, and perceptive in its judgements. There is simply no work like it--a Europe-wide juxtaposition of medicine and politics. ReadlB