"The facts are often fascinating and the prose is lively and accessible, guaranteeing interesting reading even for those on the receiving end of the stethoscope."
Debby Waldman, Quill and Quire
"The first readers of this History of Medicine should be medical students. As the director of a history of medicine program I welcome this book, for at last I have a good textbook to recommend ... It should be bought by, or better still, presented to each Canadian medical student as a reward for acceptance into medical school."
Peter Warren, Canadian Medical Association Journal
"A rollicking ride through the history of medicine ... Each chapter represents the tried-and-true teaching methods of the author ... [these], combined with the author's lucid writing style and often humorous approach, made me envious of Duffin's students."
Hughes Evans, Isis
"Duffin's book is not only concise but also entertaining and enlightening ... a valuable, good-natured overview of a large topic that challenges everyone who teaches the history of medicine to do a better job."
Barron H. Lerner, Journal of the History of Medicine
"This book is a superbly crafted volume readily accessible to the medical students for whom it was intended but equally rewarding to historians of all stripes for its wide-ranging and insightful discussions of the development of medicine from antiquity to Ebola and AIDS ... a reminder of the splendor and fascination of healing and its lengthy and compelling history."
Susan E. Lederer, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History
"As a textbook it is not scandalously short, but great, concise, and straightforward. Recommended!"
Charlotte Haug, Journal of Norwegian Medical Association
"Deftly weaving together her insight as historian, clinician, and teacher, one of history of medicine’s most brilliant storytellers has crafted a volume inviting and accessible to the student and enriching for the most seasoned medical historian. Jacalyn Duffin’s wonderfully idiosyncratic voice vibrates through every page. Authoritative and intellectually playful, this book vividly displays the power of history as a tool for thinking about medicine today."
John Harley Warner, Avalon Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of History and of American Studies, and Chair of the History of Science & Medicine Program, Yale University
"By George, I think she’s done it! Duffin’s newly revised, ‘scandalous’ text finally answers the question, Can you recommend a good book that would introduce me to the history of medicine? (asks the fellow doctor, or history colleague, or interested student). Ranging intelligently from ancient Egypt to the modern, and entertaining the reader with copious illustrations and pithy quotes along the way, this book is a marvelous resource."
Margaret Humphreys, Josiah C. Trent Professor of the History of Medicine, Duke University
"Jacalyn Duffin’s History of Medicine perfectly illustrates that the history of medicine has an important role to play in framing and informing contemporary medicine and society. Relevant, incisive, frank, and at times quite (scandalously) funny, the book should be read by medical students, their faculty, their patients, and historians alike."
Scott Harris Podolsky, Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at Countway Medical Library, and Primary Care Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital
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