A Family History of Illness: Memory as Medicine

Author:   Brett L. Walker
Publisher:   University of Washington Press
ISBN:  

9780295743035


Pages:   277
Publication Date:   15 March 2018
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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A Family History of Illness: Memory as Medicine


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Overview

While in the ICU with a near-fatal case of pneumonia, Brett Walker was asked, ""Do you have a family history of illness?""-a standard and deceptively simple question that for Walker, a professional historian, took on additional meaning and spurred him to investigate his family's medical past. In this deeply personal narrative, he constructs a history of his body to understand his diagnosis with a serious immunological disorder, weaving together his dying grandfather's sneaking a cigarette in a shed on the family's Montana farm, blood fractionation experiments in Europe during World War II, and nineteenth-century cholera outbreaks that ravaged small American towns as his ancestors were making their way west. A Family History of Illness is a gritty historical memoir that examines the body's immune system and microbial composition as well as the biological and cultural origins of memory and history, offering a startling, fresh way to view the role of history in understanding our physical selves. In his own search, Walker soon realizes that this broader scope is more valuable than a strictly medical family history. He finds that family legacies shape us both physically and symbolically, forming the root of our identity and values, and he urges us to renew our interest in the past or risk misunderstanding ourselves and the world around us.

Full Product Details

Author:   Brett L. Walker
Publisher:   University of Washington Press
Imprint:   University of Washington Press
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780295743035


ISBN 10:   0295743034
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   15 March 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Brett L. Walker is Regents Professor of History at Montana State University. He is the author of The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590-1800; A Concise History of Japan; The Lost Wolves of Japan; and Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan.

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