Alternative Medicine?: A History

As a child, medical historian Bivins was treated by a healer in Nigeria and an M.D. in Boston; the experience left her convinced that, though effective, the Western model of medicine is ""far from complete."" Looking from Aristotle's day to the present, Bivins compiles a history of patient care as performed by the ""rival systems"" of traditional-cultural healing practices, more or less the global norm before the late 18th century, and the scientific orthodoxy that came to replace it in Europe and America. Looking at such examples as a West Indian herbal cure for gout that gained purchase in 18th century Europe, Bivins traces the infiltration of such ideas as acupuncture, mesmerism and homeopathy into the rapidly calcifying biomedical hegemony of the West, and the ""'legitimate' medical offspring"" they engendered. Bivins' research is thorough throughout-including a wide range of scientists, thinkers and spiritualists while shifting from Europe to India to the Far East and back-but so is her disdain for a system that posits ""increasingly costly"" and ever-narrowing options for both patients and practitioners. Her strident tone may not convince anyone not already on her side, but Bivins' history is a provocative, far-sighted take on a long-debated subject.