Category: Health / Medicine

2023 American Association for the History of Medicine Annual Meeting

UNC Press is excited to be exhibiting in-person at the American Association for the History of Medicine annual meeting! We hope you’ll stop by our booth to say hello to editor María Isela García, to learn more about the Studies in Social Medicine Series, and to browse our titles on display. If you can’t join us in-person, you can always… Continue Reading 2023 American Association for the History of Medicine Annual Meeting

New Books Out Today

Looking for you next read? Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Browse our list of books that are officially on-sale today and take advantage of our holiday sale to save 40% plus free shipping on orders over $75 with code 01HOLIDAY! Making our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia by Emily Hilliard “A benchmark in public folklore.”—Mary Hufford,… Continue Reading New Books Out Today

Accidental Kindness: A Doctor’s Notes on Empathy Now Available as an Audiobook

Accidental Kindness: A Doctor’s Notes on Empathy by Michael Stein is now available as an audiobook from Audible, Libro.fm, and Kobo. Praise for Accidental Kindness: [Stein’s] incisive articulation of the emotional challenges faced by doctors is rendered in prose that’s vivid, candid, and shot through with compassion—it makes for an investigation that’s tough to forget. This is a standout.”—STARRED review, Publishers Weekly “One of the… Continue Reading Accidental Kindness: A Doctor’s Notes on Empathy Now Available as an Audiobook

All Health Politics is Local

All Health Politics is Local: Community Battles for Medical Care and Environmental Health is officially on sale now wherever books and ebooks are sold. Health is political. It entails fierce battles over the allocation of resources, arguments over the imposition of regulations, and the mediation of dueling public sentiments—all conflicts that are often narrated from a national, top-down view. In All… Continue Reading All Health Politics is Local

Writing the History of Legal Abortion

The following is an excerpt from 2015’s Abortion after Roe by Johanna Schoen, recipient of the William H. Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine. Schoen sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s–a period of optimism–to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics… Continue Reading Writing the History of Legal Abortion

Hot Off The Press: March 2022

We’re publishing some great books this month! Read below to learn more about these exceptional titles. Don’t forget to enter code 01DAH40 at checkout for some savings! You can save 40% on ALL UNC Press print books and if your order totals $75 or more, the shipping is FREE! CITIZENS AND RULERS OF THE WORLD: THE AMERICAN CHILD AND THE… Continue Reading Hot Off The Press: March 2022

National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

January 6th marks National Technology Day. Technology has been a huge stepping stone in the advancement of so many cultures. From the technology we use in our everyday lives to NASA’s own technology used for space exploration, it’s always been closely connected to the overall progress of America. In celebration of National Technology Day, we’re sharing a recommended reading list… Continue Reading National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

Mental Illness Awareness Week Reading List

Today’s reading list is focused on mental health as we enter Mental Illness Awareness Week, recognized from October 3rd to October 9th. “Since 1990, when Congress officially established the first full week of October as MIAW, advocates have worked together to sponsor activities, large or small, to educate the public about mental illness.” Below you’ll find a list of various… Continue Reading Mental Illness Awareness Week Reading List

Reproductive Rights, Abortion, and the State of Texas

The following recommended reading list provides deep analysis and historical insight regarding the Texas abortion law ruling (and the ongoing challenges to Roe v. Wade) that has gone into effect as of September 1, 2021. Take 40% off when purchasing these titles direct from uncpress.org using discount promo code 01DAH40 at checkout. Abortion after RoeBy Johanna Schoen “Schoen fills an… Continue Reading Reproductive Rights, Abortion, and the State of Texas

The Right to Live in Health: A Blessed Formula for Progress

Recently, we published a recommended reading list in support of Cuba’s most recent demand for liberation. Today we chose to publish an excerpt from one of the titles from that reading list, Daniel A. Rodríguez’s The Right to Live in Health: Medical Politics in Postindependence Havana. Out of the many reasons people in Cuba have chosen to protest, medical resources… Continue Reading The Right to Live in Health: A Blessed Formula for Progress

Cuba’s Fight for Freedom: A Recommended Reading List

Due to the protests happening in Cuba currently, we’ve decided to publish a recommended reading list pertaining to Cuba’s fight for freedom. This isn’t the first time revolts have taken place in Cuba, but what’s going on now has been referred to as the biggest protests Cuba has seen in decades. When I began researching what was going on in… Continue Reading Cuba’s Fight for Freedom: A Recommended Reading List

The Nation of Islam, Caring for the Black Body, and Vaccine Hesitancy

Guest post (unrolled from a thread that appeared originally on Twitter) by Edward E. Curtis IV, author of Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975 The history of the Nation of Islam helps to explain why some U.S. African Americans do not want a foreign substance injected in their arms. As COVID Black and others have revealed, the horrible… Continue Reading The Nation of Islam, Caring for the Black Body, and Vaccine Hesitancy

Wendy Gonaver: Jailing People with Mental Illness, Part 2

Today we welcome a second guest post from Wendy Gonaver, author of The Peculiar Institution and the Making of Modern Psychiatry, 1840–1880, just published this month by UNC Press.  You can read the first installment here. Though the origins of asylums can be traced to Europe, the systematic segregation of the mentally ill into specialized institutions occurred in the Unites… Continue Reading Wendy Gonaver: Jailing People with Mental Illness, Part 2

Wendy Gonaver: Jailing People with Mental Illness, Part 1

Today we welcome the first of two guest posts from Wendy Gonaver, author of The Peculiar Institution and the Making of Modern Psychiatry, 1840–1880, just published this month by UNC Press. Though the origins of asylums can be traced to Europe, the systematic segregation of the mentally ill into specialized institutions occurred in the Unites States only after 1800, just… Continue Reading Wendy Gonaver: Jailing People with Mental Illness, Part 1

Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D.: Redesigning the American Health Care System

Today we welcome a guest post from Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D., authors of a new open-access pamphlet published by UNC Press, Promoting Worker Health:  A New Approach to Employee Benefits in the Twenty-First Century. In this extended essay, the authors introduce a new approach to reforming the American health-care system–a plan they call the Universal… Continue Reading Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D.: Redesigning the American Health Care System

Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.: The Not-So-Secret Secret About American Health Care

Today, we welcome a guest post from Dr. Muriel R. Gillick, author of Old and Sick in America:  The Journey through the Health Care System. Since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, the American health care system has steadily grown in size and complexity. Old and Sick in America takes readers on a narrative tour of American health… Continue Reading Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.: The Not-So-Secret Secret About American Health Care

Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.: Happy Birthday, Medicare

Today, we welcome a guest post from Dr. Muriel R. Gillick, author of Old and Sick in America:  The Journey through the Health Care System, on the founding of the national health insurance program we call Medicare. Since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, the American health care system has steadily grown in size and complexity. Old and… Continue Reading Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.: Happy Birthday, Medicare

Nancy Tomes: Remarks from the Bancroft Awards Dinner

Thinking about those issues was like entering a funhouse with distorted mirrors: people used the same words—patient, consumer, choice, value—and meant very different things by them. In search of the origins of this strange concept of the “patient as consumer,” I kept going back further and further, looking for where it came from. The roots turned out to be a lot earlier than I expected: the 1920s and 1930s, not the 1970s. Continue Reading Nancy Tomes: Remarks from the Bancroft Awards Dinner

Nora E. Jaffary: Midwifery in Mexico

Midwives were the dominant obstetrical and gynecological practitioners in Mexico in pre-Hispanic and colonial Mexico. Their medical knowledge was vast. Early post-conquest writers observed that Mexican midwives possessed hundreds of medical remedies to provide contraception, encourage fertility, counteract the side effects of pregnancy, assist in complicated deliveries, and treat postpartum complaints. They could soothe labor pains, initiate stalled labor, facilitate the placenta’s expulsion, encourage lactation, and soothe that most vexatious of post-partum symptoms: hemorrhoids. Continue Reading Nora E. Jaffary: Midwifery in Mexico

Interview: Dr. Peggy Valentine on the Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity

Q: How do you see the journal advancing research and teaching at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU)?

A: An important goal of any institution of higher learning is to advance the body of knowledge through research and scholarship. Given its important mission as a Historically Black College and University, WSSU was founded on principles of social justice, and promotes equity intentionally and comprehensively. A journal that addresses the need for a more diverse health professions workforce, therefore is consistent with the university’s mission. This journal has provided an opportunity for faculty to serve as peer reviewers and on publish their research that undergo the peer review process like any other submitted manuscripts. The journal has also provided an opportunity for graduate students to gain experience in working with authors from around the nation, to market the journal to potential subscribers, and to solicit articles for publication. Continue Reading Interview: Dr. Peggy Valentine on the Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity