Roy Porter: 14 books

"To combine enormous knowledge with a delightful style and a highly idiosyncratic point of view is Roy Porter's special gift, and it makes [this] book . . . alive and fascinating and provocative on every page."—Oliver Sacks, M.D. Hailed as "a remarkable achievement" (Boston...

Bodies Politic takes a critical look at representations of the body in death, disease, and health, as well as at images of the healing arts in Britain from the mid-seventeenth to the twentieth century. Arguing that great symbolic weight was attached to contrasting conceptions of the healthy and diseased...

"Ideas tumble out of Porter like wonders from some scholarly horn of plenty." —Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic An eminently readable, entertaining romp through the history of our vain and valiant efforts to heal ourselves. Mankind's battle to stay alive and healthy for as long...

'As an introduction to early modern thinking and the impact of past ideas on present lives, this book can find few equals and no superiors. Porter is a witty, humane writer with an extraordinary vocabulary and a sparkling sense of fun. Whether he is quoting from obscure medical texts or analysing...

This fascinating story of madness reveals the radically different perceptions of madness and approaches to its treatment, from antiquity to the present day.Roy Porter explores what we really mean by 'madness', covering an enormous range of topics from witches to creative geniuses, electric shock therapy...

Bethlem Hospital, popularly known as "Bedlam", is a unique institution. Now seven hundred and fifty years old, it has been continuously involved in the care of the mentally ill in London since at least the 1400s. As such it has a strong claim to be the oldest foundation in Europe with an...

First published in 1992, this book explores how we come to hold our present attitudes towards health, sickness and the medical profession. Roy Porter argues that the outlook of the age of Enlightenment was crucially important in the creation of modern thinking about disease, doctors and society. To...

Geschröpft und zur Ader gelassen erkundet die vielfältige, oftmals seltsame und manchmal schauerliche Art und Weise, in der die Menschen über die Jahrhunderte hinweg versucht haben, Krankheiten zu bekämpfen. Roy Porter, weltweit einer der renommiertesten Medizinhistoriker, verschafft uns mit profunder Sachkenntnis und tiefgründigem Humor einen Überblick über die Geschichte der Medizin.

A portrait of 18th century England, from its princes to its paupers, from its metropolis to its smallest hamlet. The topics covered include - diet, housing, prisons, rural festivals, bordellos, plays, paintings, and work and wages.

First published in 1987. Even as the professionalism of medicine progressed, many sufferers continued to rely on what would now be termed "fringe" practitioners – quacks, backstreet surgeons, bone-setters, Thomsonian botanists, holists and naturalists. Many types of fringe medicine were...

The two Germanies, arising from the unpromising ashes of defeated Nazi Germany, came to represent opposing models of state and society. The Federal Republic established itself as a remarkably stable democracy and successful social market economy: the German Democratic Republic developed an apparently...

The conversation between Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) and Melinda Camber Porter (1953-2008) took place on December 18, 1983, when Roy Lichtenstein’s Greene Street Mural drew crowds to Leo Castelli’s landmark SoHo Greene Street Gallery in downtown New York. Roy Lichtenstein describes to Melinda...

The tempestuous, scandalous love affair of the 20th century's Romeo and Juliet was second in fame and notoriety only to that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and by many accounts, even more corrupt. Even though the spotlight shone on this famous pair throughout most of their tabloid-fueled careers,...

The Ultimate Theory of Everything and Other Misguided Thought Experiments will have you rethinking the conception of "Time" as we know it. It will also entertain you with some humorous ways of looking at some old and new ideas. http://ultimate-theory-of-everything.com/ Could...