'A monumental work... magnificent.' KENAN MALIK, Independent on Sunday 'Only the unique artistry of Roy Porter could have created this panoramic and perfectly magnificent intellectual history of medicine. It makes no difference whether one reads it for its wisdom, insight, inimitable perspective, or simply for its plenitude of information -- this is the book that delivers it all.' SHERWIN B. NULAND

Roy Porter is Professor of the Social History of Medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Science. He is the editor of the Fontana History of Science series, and the author of over sixty-five books, including, most recently, the acclaimed bestseller, London: A Social History. His book on the history of madness in England, Mind-Forg'd Manacles, won the Leo Gershoy Prize.