HIS 3537 Syllabus 2009

History 3537: Matters of life and death: The history of ill-health and medicine
Fall Semester 2009

Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-1:45
Anne Belk Hall 1139
Office Hours: Tues./Thurs. 2:00-3:00p.m.;
Wednesday, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Professor Lucinda McCray Beier

Office: Anne Belk Hall 1097
Telephone: 262-2282
E-mail: beierlm@appstate.edu
Course Description
Although birth, illness, and death are universal human experiences, the ways people conceptualize and manage
these experiences have varied widely from one culture, society, and time period to another. This lecture-discussion
course opens with a brief survey of ill-health and medicine in the West from Classical times to the present, then
concentrates on suffering and healing in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It
examines the relationship between medical theories and therapies, observes the roles of practitioners and
institutions, and considers the impact of medical science and public health measures on health and welfare. It
explores a shifting range of ideas about disease causation and the evolution of health care occupations, delivery
and payment systems, and public policies. In addition, it considers the experiences, responsibilities, beliefs and
perceptions of ordinary people dealing with matters of life and death health, illness, prevention, and treatment
during the times and places under consideration. Thus, it explores cultural, social, political, and economic
dimensions of issues that continue to challenge us.
This course depends heavily on class discussion of assigned readings. Therefore, the success of the course
depends upon student participation.
Course Reading
Roy Porter, Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2002).
Selections: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwifes Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on her Diary (New
York: Vintage, 1990). Available in ASULearn Readings Folder.
Paul Starr, The Social Transformation of American Medicine (Basic Books, 1982).
Sandra Lee Barney, Authorized to Heal: Gender, Class, and the Transformation of Medicine in Appalachia, 18801930 (University of North Carolina Press, 2000)
Nancy Tomes, The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life (Harvard University Press,
1998).
History 274: The History of Western Medicine
Lucinda McCray Beier
Spring 2009
Course Requirements and Evaluation

Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the readings assigned for the course according to the
schedule below. Additional assignments include:
Being prepared at the beginning of each class to either identify an argument made in the assigned reading
or ask a question about that reading: arguments and questions must be presented in writing at the
professors request;
Two examinations; and
Two 5-page essays answering questions from lists provided by the professor.
Evaluation
Examination 1
Final examination
Essays
(2 @ 100 points apiece)
Class participation
Total points
100
150
200
50
500
Policies:
Please inform the professor ahead of time (preferably via e-mail) if you must be late to class or leave class
early.
To be excused from class attendance, reasons for absence must be documented (e.g., illness, court
appearances, bereavement, etc.). Points will be deducted for unexcused absences.
Cell phones must be turned off during class.
Students must bring assigned readings to class and come prepared to ask questions and discuss them. If
students regularly come unprepared, the professor may give a pop quiz.
Turning essays in after the due date will result in a loss of points.
All quotations, paraphrases, and information obtained from sources must be cited in either footnotes or
endnotes. Plagiarism is a serious offence. Students who copy other peoples work without attribution
will be referred to Student Judicial Affairs.
Use Rampollas A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, any edition (Boston and NY: Bedford/St. Martins)
or Appalachian State University Librarys Chicago Manual style sheet (available online at
http://www.library.appstate.edu/reference/howTo/cite/index.html) to guide your citation style.
Make-up examinations will be offered only in documented cases of need.
Class Schedule
August 25
Introduction
August 27
Disease and doctors.

Focus on humoral theory, the influence of Galen on Western medicine, and
the range of learned and unlearned healers in traditional Europe.
Discuss Porter: Chapters 1 and 2
September 1
The evolution of medical science

Focus on the scientific revolution and changes in the medical gaze.
September 3
Healing: therapeutics and surgery

Focus on revolutions in surgery and internal medicine
Spring 2009

September 8
Hospitals and modern medicine

Focus on changes in utilization and perception of hospitals
September 10
Healthcare in early America

Readings from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, The Midwifes Tale (SHAC Drive)
Film: The Midwifes Tale
September 15
Healthcare in early America

Readings from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, The Midwifes Tale (SHAC Drive)
Film: The Midwifes Tale:
September 17
EXAM 1 (Bring a blue-book to class.)
September 22
American physicians and the development of cultural authority

Discuss Starr, Introduction (3-29)
September 24
Doctors in 19th-century USA

Discuss Starr, Book 1, Chapters 1 and 2 (30-78)
September 29
The consolidation of professional authority

Discuss Starr, Book 1, Chapter 3 (79-144)
October 1
American hospitals and public health

October 6
The triumph of private professional medicine in the United States

October 8
U.S. resistance to socialized medicine

October 13
The advent of health insurance

October 15
FALL BREAK. NO CLASS MEETING.
October 20
Zenith and decline of cultural authority

October 22
Corporate medicine and the eve of managed care

October 27
After Starr: On-going crisis and resistance to reform
October 29
NO CLASS MEETING.
ESSAY 1 due to History Department Office by 12:30 p.m..
November 3
Experience is local: Health care in Appalachia

Discuss Barney, Introduction and Chapter 1
Spring 2009
November 5
Professional medicine in Appalachia

Discuss Barney, Chapter 2
November 10
Women, social class, and modern medicine

Discuss Barney, Chapters 3 and 4
November 12
NO CLASS MEETING. WORK ON ESSAY 2.
November 17
Public health, clinical medicine, and health care services in Appalachia

Discuss Barney, Chapter 5 and Conclusion
ESSAY 2 due
November 19
The germ theory arrives in the United States

Discuss Tomes, Preface, Introduction, and Section I
November 24
Germs, TB, and housekeeping

Discuss Tomes, Section II
November 26
NO CLASS MEETING. THANKSGIVING BREAK.
December 1
Zenith of the gospel of germs

Discuss Tomes, Section III
December 3
Decline of the gospel of germs

Discuss Tomes, Section IV
LAST DAY OF CLASS
Friday, December 11, 12:00 p.m., Anne Belk Hall 1139: FINAL EXAM (Bring a blue-book to class.)
Spring 2009

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History 3537: Matters of life and death: The history of ill-health and medicine

Fall Semester 2009

Professor Lucinda McCray Beier

History 274: The History of Western Medicine

Lucinda McCray Beier

Course Requirements and Evaluation

Disease and doctors.

The evolution of medical science

Healing: therapeutics and surgery

History 274: The History of Western Medicine

Lucinda McCray Beier

Discuss Porter: Chapters 5 and 6

Hospitals and modern medicine

Healthcare in early America

Healthcare in early America

EXAM 1 (Bring a blue-book to class.)

American physicians and the development of cultural authority

Doctors in 19th-century USA

The consolidation of professional authority

American hospitals and public health

The triumph of private professional medicine in the United States

U.S. resistance to socialized medicine

The advent of health insurance

FALL BREAK. NO CLASS MEETING.

Zenith and decline of cultural authority

Corporate medicine and the eve of managed care

After Starr: On-going crisis and resistance to reform

Experience is local: Health care in Appalachia

History 274: The History of Western Medicine

Lucinda McCray Beier

Professional medicine in Appalachia

Women, social class, and modern medicine

NO CLASS MEETING. WORK ON ESSAY 2.

Public health, clinical medicine, and health care services in Appalachia

The germ theory arrives in the United States

Germs, TB, and housekeeping

NO CLASS MEETING. THANKSGIVING BREAK.

Zenith of the gospel of germs

Decline of the gospel of germs

History 274: The History of Western Medicine

Lucinda McCray Beier

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