Overview

There is a long history of inventing illness, such as pretending to be sick for attention or accusing others of being ill. This volume explores the art of illness, and the deceptions and truths around health and bodies, from a multiplicity of angles from antiquity to the present. The chapters, which are based on primary-source evidence ranging from antiquity to the late twentieth century, are divided into three sections. The first part explores how the idea of faking illness was understood and conceptualized across multiple fields, locations, and time periods. The second part uses case studies to emphasize the human element of those at the center of these narratives and how their behavior was shaped by societal attitudes. The third part investigates the development of regulations and laws governing malingering and malingerers. Altogether, they paint a picture of humans doing human actions—cheating, lying, stealing, but also hiding, surviving, working. This book’s careful, accessible scholarship is a valuable resource for academics, scientists, and the sophisticated undergraduate audience interested in malingering narratives throughout history.

Full Product Details

Author:   Wendy J. Turner (Augusta University, USA)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.480kg
ISBN:  

9781032589626

ISBN 10:   1032589620
Pages:   294
Publication Date:   05 May 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Bioethics of Malingering, Misrepresentation of Health, and Forensics of Illness Part 1: Conceptualizing Malingering 1. Malingering in Ancient Greece and Rome 2. Form, Fraud, and Performance in Middle English Medical Satire 3. Pathologising Ecstatic Dance: Reflections on Medieval Dansomania and the Love Parade in Berlin, 1996 4. Philosophical Paradoxes of Factitious Disorders Part 2: Historic Cases of Malingering 5. ‘Because she pretended to be pregnant and was not’: Fake Royal Pregnancies in Medieval Scotland 6. Feigning Madness: The Case of William Hawkyns, 1552 London 7. ""A decietfull gypsay [sic]"": Malingering, Performance and Princess Sophia’s ""Fitts"" Part 3: Regulations and Laws Against Malingering 8. Faking It: Thirteenth Century Bolognese Responses to Feigning Leprosy 9. Expertis medicis videatur: Legal Medical Expertise in the Apostolic Chancery’s Assessment of Personal Injury Damages During the Avignon Period (1309–1378) 10. Compensatory Damages and the Construction of Disability in Prenatal Torts. Afterword

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Author Information

Wendy J. Turner is Professor of History in the Department of History, Anthropology, and Philosophy at Augusta University, where she also holds affiliate professorships in the Center for Bioethics and Health Policy in the Institute for Public and Preventative Health and The Graduate School.

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