Chinese Medicine and Healing

Very impressive! An extraordinarily broad and rich compendium, Hinrichs and Barnes have orchestrated a vast collection of history and anthropological observations of professional and popular practice which will be useful for the expert and the general reader. -- Arthur Kleinman, Harvard University Hinrichs and Barnes have produced a large, ambitious, blockbusting volume that provides both encyclopedic range and contextual historical detail. The book is a great reference for a wide range of readers, including students, scholars, clinicians, and anyone seeking to better understand a medicine that is uniquely embedded in a civilization's specific cultural history. -- Charlotte Furth, Professor Emerita of Chinese History, University of Southern California Taking a historical, sociological, and anthropological approach, this expansive survey makes a scholarly pursuit accessible, with crisply edited essays and fascinating illustrations that break down a complex medical tradition whose relevance has not diminished... Hinrichs and Barnes present a rich exploration of the evolution and impact of Chinese medicine... Medical professionals and alternative medicine aficionados will find plenty to appreciate in this compelling study. * Publishers Weekly * Covering over 3,000 years of medical history, the volume demonstrates how successive schools of medical thought adopted new practices, accommodated old ones, and diverged from their own ideological and institutional roots in response to new sociopolitical contexts... The book examines the complex relationship between Chinese medicine and the West... While the sheer breadth of information contained within the volume might appear daunting, the book itself is actually quite approachable. The authors assume little foreknowledge of Chinese history on the part of the reader, and do a nice job of integrating general contextual information with specific examples of medical practice (often offset from the main text in gray boxes). The use of visual imagery, including maps, anatomic charts, and photographs of practitioners in action, further reinforces the multiplicity of ways in which Chinese medicine has been deployed in a range of settings and geographic contexts. By culling from a wide variety of primary and secondary sources and recruiting over 50 scholars to contribute to the volume, Barnes and Hinrichs are able to create a book that is thorough and comprehensive, yet not intimidating... Chinese Medicine and Healing can serve as a reference for students, scholars, and anyone looking to understand the historical roots of contemporary Chinese medical practices. -- Emily Baum * Los Angeles Review of Books *