Knowledge in the Time of Cholera

Download or read book Knowledge in the Time of Cholera written by Owen Whooley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1832, the arrival of cholera in the US created widespread panic throughout the country. For the rest of the century epidemics swept through American cities and towns like wildfire killing thousands. These cholera outbreaks raised questions about medical knowledge and its legitimacy, giving fuel to alternative medical sects that used the confusion of the epidemic to challenge both medical orthodoxy and the authority of the American Medical Association. Here, Whooley tells us the story of those dark days, centring his narrative on rivalries between medical and homeopathic practitioners.