We are taught that medicine is the art of solving our body's mysteries. And as a science,we expect medicine to uphold the principles of evidence and impartiality. We want our doctors to listen to us and care for us as people,but we also need their assessments of our pain and fevers,aches and exhaustion to be free of any prejudice about who we are,our gender,or the colour of our skin. But medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. The history of medicine,of illness,is a history of people,of their bodies and their lives,not just physicians,surgeons,clinicians and researchers. And medical progress has always reflected the realities of a changing world,and the meanings of being human.
In Unwell Women Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding,mystification and misdiagnosis of women's bodies,and traces the journey from the'wandering womb'of ancient Greece,the rise of witch trials in Medieval Europe,through the dawn of Hysteria,to modern day understandings of autoimmune diseases,the menopause and conditions like endometriosis.
Packed with character studies of women who have suffered,challenged and rewritten medical orthodoxy - and drawing on her own experience of un-diagnosed Lupus disease - this is a ground-breaking and timely expose of the medical world and woman's place within it.
Publisher: Orion Publishing CoISBN: 9781474616874Number of pages: 496Weight: 400 gDimensions: 197 x 130 x 36 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A searing,brilliant investigation,an intricate and urgent book on how women's health has constantly been misunderstood and miscast throughout history'- Kate Williams
'Unwell Women is one of the most important books of our generation. I read it in a rage,and recognised myself in its pages.'- Fern Riddell,author of Death in Ten Minutes
'Unwell Women is a powerful and fascinating book that takes an unsparing look at how women's bodies have been misunderstood and misdiagnosed for centuries. From wandering wombs to demonic explanations of menopause,Elinor Cleghorn packs each page with disturbing historical details that will haunt your psyche for days and weeks to come.'- Lindsey Fitzharris,author of The Butchering Art
'This is a fascinating look at history,Unwell Women is both captivating and enraging - a worthy voice for so many women who have been silenced for so long.'- Catherine Cho,author of Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness
'At once grand in scope and deeply personal,Unwell Women is a powerful and important exploration of the history of Western medicine. Elinor Cleghorn lays bare centuries of unnecessary suffering in this meticulously researched,scorching indictment of how male-focused medicine has failed women - and shows us how far we still have to go.'- Emily Brand author of The Fall of the House of Byron
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