$9.99 on Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Kobo, Google PlayIn Sickness and In Wealth: American Hospitals in the Twentieth Century by Rosemary Stevens (187,000 words)
American hospitals are a unique combination of public and private institutions that are at once charities and businesses, social welfare institutions and icons of US science, wealth, and technical achievement. In Sickness and in Wealth helps us understand this huge and often contradictory “industry” and shows that throughout this century the voluntary not-for-profit hospitals have been profit-maximizing enterprises, even though they have viewed themselves as charities serving the community. Although our hospitals have provided the most advanced medical care for acutely sick and curable patients, they have been much less successful in meeting the needs of the chronically ill and the socially disadvantaged. That, Stevens concludes, is the next urgent task of social policy.
“[A] fascinating, panoramic survey of the evolution of the American hospital system in the twentieth century... Stevens brilliantly views the hospital as a prism of the values and mores of society... She sees the stratification of the hospital population into private, semi-private, and charity patients as a manifestation of the social stratifications of American society... Stevens has written a profoundly important book. Together with The Care of Strangers (1987) by Charles Rosenberg, In Sickness and in Wealth provides a masterful overview of the development of the American hospital system. These two outstanding books complement each other neatly. The Care of Strangers examines the creation of the system from 1850 to the 1920s; In Sickness and in Wealth traces events once the system was in place through the present. Rosenberg’s book is an unusually well crafted piece of social and cultural history; the present book is written to a much greater degree from the standpoint of political science, and it also carries more implications for present-day policy issues. Ambitiously conceived, superbly executed, and rich in detail, interpretation, and insight, In Sickness and in Wealth is a major work of scholarship that will influence discussion of the health care system for years to come. It has all the makings of a classic.”― Kenneth M. Ludmerer, Reviews in American History
“This book is beautifully written... and is must reading for anyone involved in the current debate on health policy. It will also make delightful reading for those who merely wish to view the shifting social and economic climate in modern America, as seen from the perspective of the hospital.” ― Mark K. Siegel, MD, New England Journal of Medicine
“[S]uperbly researched, and rendered in an engaging style that combines the policy analyst’s breadth with the historian’s fine sense of detail.” — Uwe E. Reinhardt, New York Times
“[A]n ambitious and impressive survey of a medical-care system that deserves to be called an industry.” — Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
“The book is encyclopedic in its analysis as well as in its detail; it can be read as a fascinating history of twentieth-century medicine, as a powerful analysis of contemporary social policy, and as an exploration of American values.” — Morris J. Vogel, Isis
“[A] masterful picture of the emergence of the hospital and its role in American society.” — David Mechanic, Science
“[R]eading [this book] is a continuous learning experience, even for an elder citizen in the field. There is enough for everyone. This is a book that one must read carefully and slowly. Each section and each chapter can stand alone, but the book presents an important and valuable whole. It is sure to inform the ongoing policy debate about the future of our health system. Faculty and students alike should read it and then keep it handy... for reference purposes.” — Sidney S. Lee, Journal of Public Health Policy
“[A] very informative volume.” — Stanley R. Ingman, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
“[An] impressive study of twentieth-century American hospitals... a major contribution to the history of health policy. This is a book that deserves a wide reading by historians as well as those involved in the debate over national health policy.” — Gerald N. Grob, Bulletin of the History of Medicine
“This beautifully written history of the American hospital sheds light on our entire health care system... essential reading for anyone interested in how our current health care system came to be... Stevens combines a policy analyst’s eye for causal connections with an historian’s eye for the revealing detail... a book from which all readers — even seasoned specialists — will learn, finding much enjoyment in the process.” — Bradford H. Gray, Issues in Science and Technology
“I strongly recommend this thoughtful, well-written book... [a] superb review.” — Peggy C. Ferry, MD, JAMA Pediatrics
“For me, personally, the book constituted an invitation to rethink the relationship ― warts and all ― among the benevolent, charitable, and business missions of the hospital, while at the same time disabusing me of my inclination to cite history to support or defend a view I might otherwise have preferred to hold.” ― Merlin K. DuVal, MD, Senior Vice President, Samaritan Health Service, Phoenix, Arizona