WHSC Library Collection Highlights

Controversy and medicine have been near-constant companions throughout human history. From dissection in Galen’s Greece to modern genetic medicine, controversy—at times based on rational critique, at others on primal fear, and highly transmissible in the social realm—has been both a measure of medical progress and a warning sign of potentially dangerous therapies and concepts.

At the intersection of science, commerce, religion, and ethics, new developments in medicine offer hope but also inspire skepticism, mistrust and suspicion. These negative reactions often evolve into acceptance, but in noteworthy instances they have been borne out by medical practices that turned out to be misguided or even deadly.

The books in this exhibit highlight the deeply intertwined relationship between the healing arts and wider social and cultural phenomena, the impact of which continues to be felt in the current era.