Drawing Blood - Technology and Disease Identity in Twentieth-Century America

In Drawing Blood, medical historian Keith Wailoo uses the story of blood diseases to explain how physicians in this century wielded medical technology to define disease, carve out medical specialties, and shape political agendas. As Wailoo's account makes clear, the seemingly straightforward process of identifying disease is invariably influenced by personal, professional, and social factors -- and the result is not only clarity and precision but also bias and outright error. Drawing Blood reveals the ways in which physicians and patients as well as diseases are simultaneously shaping and being shaped by technology, medical professionalization, and society at large. This thought-provoking cultural history of disease, medicine, and technology offers a perspective that is invaluable in understanding current discussions of HIV and AIDS, genetic blood testing, prostatespecific antigen, and other important issues in an age of technological medicine.

About the author

Keith Wailoo is the Townsend Martin Professor of History and Public Affairs and Vice Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of Drawing Blood: Technology and Disease Identity in Twentieth-Century America, Pain: A Political History, and Dying in the City of the Blues: Sickle Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race and Health.

Product details

• Authors: Wailoo, Keith Wailoo, Keith (Professor of History Wailoo
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 19.02.1999
• EAN: 9780801861819
• ISBN: 978-0-8018-6181-9
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 229 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 440 g
• Series: Henry E. Sigerist Series in th; The Henry E. Sigerist Series in the History of Medicine; The Henry E. Sigerist the Hist
• Subjects: Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Family; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General