American Medicine Since 1865

Catalog description

This course will explore the history of American medicine and medical treatment beginning with the Civil War. It will continue by exploring the introduction of new scientific approaches and technologies, the enhancement of fields like surgery and psychiatry, the influence of growing professionalization, pharmaceutical discoveries, and public health concerns, including sanitization, and the people who shaped these changes and their institutions: doctors, nurses, hospitals, and insurance companies. Throughout, we will consider as well the ways in which medicine has been affected by wars, epidemics, and other crises, as well as attitudes about race, class, and gender.