Hardback | |
March 1, 2018 | |
9780295743035 | |
English | |
280 | |
20 b&w illus. | |
8.50 Inches (US) | |
5.50 Inches (US) | |
1 Pounds (US) | |
$26.95 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
A Family History of Illness
Memory as Medicine
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.
About the Author
Endorsements
"A masterful tale, beautifully written, by a highly accomplished historian at his best. A Family History of Illness is a unique story that brings together personal memoir and medical history with a thoughtful guide and reflection on the craft of history."—Gregg Mitman, author of Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes
"A uniquely talented historian fights the disease that may kill him with research, narrative, and empathy. The result is a moving memoir and profound meditation on living within the histories of our body, family, and environment."—David Armitage, Harvard University
"In another tour de force, Brett Walker traces the entangled social and biological histories that produced his own medical condition and then uses this lens to show how all our histories are thus entangled. The result is a rousing defense of history itself in our age of presentism."—Julia Adeney Thomas, author of Reconfiguring Modernity: Concepts of Nature in Japanese Political Ideology
"This book is terrific in five ways I can barely list here. Fascinating, literate, profound, wondrously variegated, harrowingly personal. Brett Walker, a historian with an eye for science and an ear for language, knows that he and his near-death experience are a synecdoche for the broader issues of disease, memory, selfhood, and history among us all."—David Quammen, author of Spillover
University of Washington Press | |
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|
Hardback | |
March 1, 2018 | |
9780295743035 | |
English | |
280 | |
20 b&w illus. | |
8.50 Inches (US) | |
5.50 Inches (US) | |
1 Pounds (US) | |
$26.95 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Other Titles by Brett L. Walker
Toxic Archipelago
The Lost Wolves of Japan
Other Titles in BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Bluegrass Craftsman
Charleston Renaissance Man