Awards

• Short-listed for <P>Wallace K. Ferguson Prize awarded by the Canadian Historical Association</P> 2017 (Canada)
• Short-listed for Wallace K. Ferguson Prize awarded by the Canadian Historical Association 2017 (Canada)
• Winner of <P>European Association for the History of Medicine and Health book award for 2017</P> 2017 (Romania)
• Winner of European Association for the History of Medicine and Health book award for 2017 2017 (Romania)
• Winner of Welch Medal 2018 (United States)

Overview

Known in early modern Europe by many names - the French Disease, the Bubas, and, eventually, syphilis - the Great Pox was a chronic disease that carried the stigma of sexuality and produced a slow and painful death. The main institution which treated it, the pox hospital, has come down to us as a stench-filled and overcrowded place that sought to treat the body and reform the soul. Using the sole surviving admissions book for Toledo, Spain's Hospital de Santiago, Cristian Berco reconstructs the lives of men and women afflicted with the pox by tracing their experiences before, during, and after their hospitalization. Through an innovative combination of medical, institutional, and notarial sources, he explores the physical and social lives of the patients. What were the social repercussions of living with a shameful disease? What did living with this chronic illness mean for careers and networks, love and families, and everyday relationships? From Body to Community is a textured analysis at once touched by the illness but not solely defined by it.

Full Product Details

Author:   Cristian Berco
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.60cm
Weight:   0.620kg
ISBN:  

9781442649620

ISBN 10:   1442649623
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   14 March 2016
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Chapter 1. Getting Sick: Signs, Sin, and Social Worth Chapter 2. Encounters of the Third Kind: Medical Assumptions and Patients Chapter 3. Melting Pot: The Hospital de Santiago’s Patients Chapter 4. Safeguarding Reputation: Gender, Hospitalization, and Textiles Chapter 5. Between Body and Soul: Treatment at the Hospital de Santiago Chapter 6. Getting Hitched: Pox, Sexuality and Marriage Chapter 7. Making Ends Meet: Disease, Work, and Family Chapter 8. Playing Nice with Others: Pox and Community Conclusion

Reviews

'Berco's study provides an important contribution for any future comparative work. Scholars should benefit from and extend Berco's innovative use of sources.' -- Mona O'Brien H-Histsex, H-Net Reviews August 2016

Author Information

Cristian Berco is the Canada Research Chair in Social and Cultural Difference and a professor in the Department of History at Bishop’s University.

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