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Article: Leprosy and Empire: A Medical and Cultural History.(Book review)
- Article from:
- Canadian Journal of History
- Article date:
- September 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Canadian Journal of History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Leprosy and Empire: A Medical and Cultural History, by Rod Edmond. Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006. x, 255 pp. $90.00 US (cloth).
Leprosy has long fascinated the human imagination. Early religious notions of a disease cured by miracle were only dispelled in the late twentieth century with the discovery of a bacillus that responded to medical treatment. In this way, ideas about the disease and consequent approaches to its treatment reflect more general trends in medical history. The ideological shift from illness as a sign of divine disfavour to the more manageable, humanly controlled ailment took centuries to ...