American Lobotomy - A Rhetorical History (Paperback)

American Lobotomy studies a wide variety of representations of lobotomy to offer a rhetorical history of one of the most infamous procedures in the history of medicine. The development of lobotomy in 1935 was heralded as a "miracle cure" that would empty the nation's perennially blighted asylums. However, only twenty years later, lobotomists initially praised for their "therapeutic courage" were condemned for their barbarity, an image that has only soured in subsequent decades. Johnson employs previously abandoned texts like science fiction, horror film, political polemics, and conspiracy theory to show how lobotomy's entanglement with social and political narratives contributed to a powerful image of the operation that persists to this day. The book provocatively challenges the history of medicine, arguing that rhetorical history is crucial to understanding medical history. It offers a case study of how medicine accumulates meaning as it circulates in public culture and argues for the need to understand biomedicine as a culturally situated practice.

General

Imprint:	The University of Michigan Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Corporealities: Discourses of Disability
Release date:	April 2016
Authors:	Jenell Johnson
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	234
ISBN-13:	978-0-472-03665-3
Categories:	Books > Medicine > General issues > History of medicine Books > Medicine > Surgery > Neurosurgery Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social welfare & social services > Care of the mentally ill Promotions
LSN:	0-472-03665-3
Barcode:	9780472036653

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