Research Guides: HIST 210: Biopower (HC): Background Information

Handbooks and Histories

The following sources provide overviews of the history of medicine and science. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and recent scholarly interpretations.
When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Cambridge History of Science by David N. Livingstone (Editor); Ronald N. Numbers (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780521580816
Publication Date: 2020-04-09
This eight-volume history is devoted to exploring the history of science including the medical sciences. See Vol. 3 for the early modern era, Vol. 4 for the 18th century and Vols. 6 and 7 for the 19th and 20th centuries.
Companion to the History of American Science by Mark Largent; Georgina Montgomery
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ISBN: 1119072239
Publication Date: 2015-10-28
Offers a collection of essays that give an authoritative overview of the most recent scholarship on the history of American science. Note essays on psychology, eugenics and policy history.
Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine by Mark Jackson, ed.
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Publication Date: 2011-11-01
Bringing together over thirty international scholars, this handbook provides a constructive overview of the current state of the history of medicine, and offers new directions for future scholarship. See essays on time periods, geographic areas and themes including public health, the mind and sexuality.
Routledge Handbook of Science and Empire
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ISBN: 9780367221256
These 27 original essays by established scholars examine: scientific and imperial disciplines, networks of science, scientific practice within empires, and decolonised science. See the essays "Racial Science" and "Colonial Psychiatry."
Routledge History of Disease by Mark Jackson, ed.
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ISBN: 9780415720014
Publication Date: 2016-08-19
Organized thematically, essays examine particular forms and conceptualizations of disease as well as discussing the various sources and methods that can be used to understand the social and cultural contexts of disease. Includes essays on mental illness, epidemics, treatments and patient experiences.

Literature Reviews and Bibliographies

History Compass
Offers interpretive essays highlighting recent scholarship. Titles of interest among the literature reviews include:
"At Her Majesty's Pleasure: Criminal Insanity in 19th-Century Britain" - Catherine L. Evans (2016)
"British Anatomists, Phrenologists and the Construction of the Aboriginal Race, c.1790–1830" - Paul Turnbull (2006)
"Health for All?: Histories of International and Global Health" - Mary Augusta Brazelton (2021)
"Histories of ‘a loathsome disease’: Sexual Health in Modern Britain" - Anne Hanley (2022)
"Re-writing Race in Early Modern European Medicine" - Hannah Murphy (2021)
“'Vaccination, Fear and Historical Relevance" - Rob Boddice (2016)
Oxford Bibliographies Online
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Extensive annotated bibliographies on specific topics in different subject areas written by scholars in the field. New entries are added twice a year. Some selected essays of interest are listed below. BMC students connect to the Haverford icon (H) rather than the linked titles below. Login with your BMC credentials to access essays from the Atlantic History and International Relations collections.
"Disease in the Atlantic World" In the Atlantic History and International Relations sections.
"Epidemic Diseases and their Effects on History" In the International Relations section.
"History of Public Health" In the Public Health section.
"Medicine in the Atlantic World" In the Atlantic History section.
"Mental Disorder in the Atlantic World" In the Atlantic History section.

Websites

"Phrenology" By Courtney E. Thompson
Open access scholarly article from the Encyclopedia of the History of Science sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University.
Premodern Healthscaping
Group of scholars based in Europe who focus their research on public health in the premodern era. See in particular their page of publications and the bibliography on public health.
"Prostitution in America" By Jessica Pliley
Available in Academica.edu. Originally published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History in 2018. See the discussion of primary sources and list of digital exhibits preceding the bibliography.
Social Welfare History Project
Articles, images and primary sources on a variety of topics in American history. Organized by multiple categories including time period and issues. See the entries on Mental Illness as an example.

Book Reviews

Book reviews from scholarly journals can be especially helpful in laying out an author's argument and addressing issues more broadly within a research area. Often the reviewer will cite other authors and studies that are important for the questions involved. Proquest Research Library is a good place to look with a search limited to reviews.

ProQuest Research Library
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Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular in scope. Covers 1971-present.
JSTOR
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Provides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Important because it indexes every article in full., so that you can locate names and other specific details. But note that the most recent issues of journals (three to five years or more) are often not included in JSTOR. Use a different database if you need very current information.
New York Review of Books
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The New York Review of Books (or NYREV or NYRB) is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs.

HIST 210: Biopower (HC)

Biographies

Money and Prices

Handbooks and Histories

Literature Reviews and Bibliographies

Websites

Book Reviews