The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity

‘Yet another compulsively readable, astonishingly encyclopaedic book from Roy Porter…his best to date: an epic, one-volume narrative history of man’s struggle with the infirmities of his body, from Aesculapius to AIDS.’ SIMON SCHAMA‘Whether you are interested in the advent of the stethoscope, the history of yellow fever, the bubonic plague or, closer to home, coronary heart disease, the feminist influence on medicine, drug abuse, childbearing or cancer, this book provides the historic background to these and other medical questions… The Greatest Benefit to Mankind is a first-class introduction to medical history. Like a well constructed broadsheet leader, it excites thoug…