The Politics of Healing Histories of Alternative Medicine in Twentieth-Century North America

Johnston takes on controversial issues such as alternative treatment for cancer and research funded by pharmaceutical companies; explores the historical roots of anti-vaccination movements; and examines the health food movement.

From grocery store to doctor's office, alternative medicine is everywhere. A recent survey found that more than two in five Americans uses some form of alternative medicine. The Politics of Healing brings together top scholars in the fields of American history, history of medicine, anthropology, sociology, and politics to counter the view that alternative medical therapies fell into disrepute in the decades after physicians established their institutional authority during the Progressive Era. From homeopathy to Navajo healing, this volume explores a variety of alternative therapies and political movements that have set the terms of debate over North American healing methods.

Robert D. Johnston, Introduction: The Politics of Healing PRECURSORS: THE YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS Nadav Davidovitch, Negotiating Dissent: Homeopathy and Anti-Vaccinationism at the Turn of the 20th Century Anne Taylor Kirschmann, Making Friends for 'Pure' Homeopathy: Hahnemannians and the Twentieth-Century Preservation and Transformation of Homeopathy Barbara Clow, Revisiting the 'Golden Age' of Regular Medicine: The Politics of Alternative Cancer Care in Ontario, 1900-1950 Michael Ackerman, Science and the Shadow of Ideology in the American Health Foods Movement, 1930s-1960s INTERSECTIONS: ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE MEETS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Otniel E. Dror, 'Voodoo Death': Fantasy, Excitement, and the Untenable Boundaries of Biomedical Science Wade Davies, Western Medicine and Navajo Healing: Conflict and Compromise CONTESTING THE COLD WAR MEDICAL MONOPOLY Naomi Rogers, Sister Kenny Goes to Washington: An Unorthodox Nurse, Polio, and Medical Populism in Postwar America Michelle M. Nickerson, 'It Could Happen Here': California Housewives, Anti-Communism and the Alaska Mental Health Bill of 1956 Gretchen Ann Reilly, 'Not a so-called democracy': Antifluoridationists and the Fight Over Drinking Water CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES/CONTEMPORARY LEGACIES Amy Sue Bix, Engendering Alternatives: Women's Health-Care Choices and Feminist Medical Rebellions Georgina Feldberg, Inside-Out: Holism and History in Toronto's Women's Health Movements Velana Huntington, A Quiet Movement: Orisha and the Healing of People, Spirit, History, and Community Sita Reddy, The Politics and Poetics of 'Magazine Medicine': New Age Ayurveda in the Print Media David J. Hess, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Cancer Therapies in Twentieth- Century North America: The Emergence and Growth of a Social Movement Matthew Schneirov and Jonathan David Geczik, Beyond the Culture Wars: The Politics of Alternative Health CONCLUSIONS Robert D. Johnston, Contemporary Anti-Vaccination Movements in Historical Perspective James C. Whorton, From Cultism to CAM: Alternative Medicine in the Twentieth Century

Robert D. Johnston is Associate Professor and Director of Teacher Education in the History Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.