Fraser Brockington, World Health, 3rd ed. (1975), is a comprehensive discussion of public health concepts and the World Health Organization. John Bryant, Health & the Developing World (1969, reprinted 1972), studies health care in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. John M. Last (ed.), Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 11th ed. (1980), is a definitive text. Later surveys of the organized effort to protect and improve community health include Derek Fraser, The Evolution of the British Welfare State: A History of Social Policy Since the Industrial Revolution, 2nd ed. (1984); Robert Lanza (ed.), Medical Science and the Advancement of World Health (1985); and Grace Budrys, Planning for the Nation’s Health: A Study of Twentieth-Century Developments in the United States (1987).
Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary (1986), is a reference source for the layman. The Oxford Companion to Medicine, 2 vol., edited by John Walton, Paul B. Beeson, and Ronald Bodley Scott (1986), is a comprehensive text of 20th-century developments and persons.
George Rosen, The Structure of American Medical Practice, 1875–1941 (1983), is a historical study. Particular kinds of medical practice are explored in Wesley Fabb and John Fry (eds.), Principles of Practice Management in Primary Care (1984); Sir Douglas Black et al., Inequalities in Health: The Black Report, edited by Peter Townsend and Nick Davidson (1982); David Sanders and Richard Carver, The Struggle for Health: Medicine and the Politics of Underdevelopment (1985); and V. Djukanovic and E.P. Mach (eds.), Alternative Approaches to Meeting Basic Health Needs in Developing Countries: A Joint UNICEF/WHO Study (1975). Also see the articles of such journals as Private Practice (monthly) and Modern Healthcare (semimonthly). For a view of alternative medicine, see Douglas Stalker and Clark Glymour (eds.), Examining Holistic Medicine (1985); and Richard Grossman, The Other Medicines (1985). The variety of roles in the health care profession are the subject of Louise Simmers, Diversified Health Occupations (1983); C. Wesley Eisele, William R. Fifer, and Toma C. Wilson, The Medical Staff and the Modern Hospital (1985); and Eli Ginzberg (ed.), From Physician Shortage to Patient Shortage: The Uncertain Future of Medical Practice (1986).
Lawrie Reznek, The Nature of Disease (1987), written for the general reader, discusses the nature of disease from several perspectives, including medical, legal, political, philosophical, and economic. David O. Slauson, Barry J. Cooper, and Maja M. Suter, Mechanisms of Disease: A Textbook of Comparative General Pathology, 2nd ed. (1990), written for the veterinary student but a great resource for pathologists and biomedical researchers, provides a fundamental overview of the mechanisms of diseases, often at the molecular level. Max Samter (ed.), Immunological Diseases, 4th ed., 2 vol. (1988), covers the collagen diseases. F.M. Burnet, The Natural History of Infectious Disease, 3rd ed. (1962), offers a unique view of infectious disease as an ecological and evolutionary phenomenon. Books for the general reader include June Goodfield, Quest for the Killers (1985), exploring efforts to conquer several epidemic diseases; Andrew Scott, Pirates of the Cell: The Story of Viruses from Molecule to Microbe, rev. ed. (1987); and Peter Radetsky, The Invisible Invaders: The Story of the Emerging Age of Viruses (1991).
Kenneth F. Kiple (ed.), The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (1993), a reference text written for advanced undergraduates and professionals in the biomedical and social sciences, surveys the medical and geographic characteristics of human diseases worldwide throughout history. James B. Wyngaarden, Lloyd H. Smith, Jr., and J. Claude Bennett (eds.), Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 19th ed. (1992), considers all facets of human disease in depth from the modern point of view. Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th ed. by Joel G. Hardman and Lee E. Limbird (1996), is a comprehensive text on drugs. T.R. Harrison, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 13th ed. edited by Kurt J. Isselbacher et al. (1994), discusses in detail the cardinal manifestations of disease under various headings. Theodore Lidz, The Person: His and Her Development Throughout the Life Cycle, rev. ed. (1976, reissued 1983), provides an excellent insight into humans, the psychological organisms. Vinay Kumar, Ramzi S. Cotran, and Stanley L. Robbins, Basic Pathology, 5th ed. (1992), clearly and succinctly presents the causes and pathogenesis of human disease with an emphasis on molecular mechanisms. Margaret W. Thompson, Roderick R. McInnes, and Huntington F. Willard, Thompson & Thompson Genetics in Medicine, 5th ed. (1991), is a well-illustrated and clearly written text on basic genetic principles and their relation to the genesis of human disease. Charles R. Scriver et al. (eds.), The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, 6th ed., 2 vol. (1989), a monumental, highly technical text, provides a comprehensive presentation of the clinical, biochemical, and genetic information concerning those diseases thought to be a consequence of genetic variation. More specific in focus and perhaps less monumental (if not less technical) than the above are Roger N. Rosenberg et al. (eds.), The Molecular and Genetic Basis of Neurological Disease (1993); Aldons J. Lusis, Jerome I. Rotter, and Robert S. Sparkes (eds.), Molecular Genetics of Coronary Artery Disease (1992); and Linda L. Gallo (ed.), Cardiovascular Disease: Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms, Prevention, and Treatment (1987), which address their particular topics on cellular and molecular levels. Robert C. Gallo and Flossie Wong-Staal (eds.), Retrovirus Biology and Human Disease (1990), written for the technically advanced reader, covers various topics in retrovirology, including historical background, epidemiology, clinical features, molecular biology, immunology, and therapeutic approaches. Adrianne Bendich and C.E. Butterworth, Jr. (eds.), Micronutrients in Health and in Disease Prevention (1991), discusses evidence of a correlation between the intake of nonoptimal levels of dietary micronutrients and the development of chronic diseases; although written for the health care professional, it is also valuable to anyone interested in the relationship between nutrition and health.
Lawrie Reznek, The Nature of Disease (1987), written for the general reader, discusses the nature of disease from several perspectives, including medical, legal, political, philosophical, and economic. David O. Slauson, Barry J. Cooper, and Maja M. Suter, Mechanisms of Disease: A Textbook of Comparative General Pathology, 2nd ed. (1990), written for the veterinary student but a great resource for pathologists and biomedical researchers, provides a fundamental overview of the mechanisms of diseases, often at the molecular level. Max Samter (ed.), Immunological Diseases, 4th ed., 2 vol. (1988), covers the collagen diseases. F.M. Burnet, The Natural History of Infectious Disease, 3rd ed. (1962), offers a unique view of infectious disease as an ecological and evolutionary phenomenon. Books for the general reader include June Goodfield, Quest for the Killers (1985), exploring efforts to conquer several epidemic diseases; Andrew Scott, Pirates of the Cell: The Story of Viruses from Molecule to Microbe, rev. ed. (1987); and Peter Radetsky, The Invisible Invaders: The Story of the Emerging Age of Viruses (1991).
Useful general sources of information on health law include Barry R. Furrow et al., Health Law: Cases, Materials, and Problems, 6th ed. (2007); and Mark A. Hall, Mary Anne Bobinski, and David Orentlicher, Health Care Law and Ethics, 6th ed. (2003).
Works about bioethics and law include Michael H. Shapiro et al., Cases, Materials, and Problems on Bioethics and Law, 2nd ed. (2003); and George J. Annas, American Bioethics: Crossing Human Rights and Health Law Boundaries (2005).
Health and human rights are covered in Sofia Gruskin, Michael A. Grodin, George J. Annas, and Stephen P. Marks (eds.), Perspectives on Health and Human Rights (2005).
Patients’ rights in view of the law of informed consent are explored in George J. Annas, The Rights of Patients, 3rd ed. (2004).
Works about medical malpractice and patient safety include Linda T. Kohn, Janet M. Corrigan, and Molla S. Donaldson (eds.), To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (1999); and Patricia M. Danzon, Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy (1985).