Between Galen, Geddes, and the Gael: Arthur Brock, modernity, and medical humanism in early-twentieth-century Scotland

Arthur Brock (1879-1947) is generally remembered as the physician who treated poet Wilfred Owen for shell shock and as the translator of Galen and other ancient physicians. He was also a key figure in the early-twentieth-century humanist revival within medicine. Brock's interest in humanism, I argue, was inspired by a broader concern about modernity and by a desire to return medicine and society to the more harmonious, organic existence that he believed was characteristic of ancient Greece and could still be found among "primitive" peoples, such as the Scottish Gaels. This article explores Brock's anxieties about modernity and its relations to his interests in ancient and "primitive" peoples; to his medical thought and practice; to his interests in history, sociology, language, and translation; and to his involvement in the social and political life of Edinburgh and North Queensferry, where he moved in 1925. Crucially, it shows how all these interests and activities were influenced by Brock's mentor, Edinburgh polymath Patrick Geddes. The article concludes with a discussion of Brock's place in early-twentieth-century medical humanism.     

Cancer, quackery and the vernacular meanings of hope in 1950s America

Hope was central to cancer control in twentieth-century America. Physicians placed great store in its power to persuade people to seek medical help as early as possible in the development of the disease, when it was most amenable to treatment; to maintain patients' loyalty through what could be a long, painful and uncertain course of therapy; and to encourage doubts about alternative healers. Some also argued that hope could have beneficial therapeutic and psychological effects for patients. However, we know very little about its meanings for the public. Focusing on a large collection of letters written to the Food and Drug Administration in the 1950s concerning an anti-quackery campaign, this article explores how men and women responded to the competing messages of hope promoted by orthodox cancer organizations and by alternative healers. It asks: What did hope mean to such men and women? How did they construct this meaning? How did they decide which treatments were hopeful and which were not? And, how did they use hope to imagine the social world of cancer? In short, this article explores the vernacular meanings, epistemologies, and imaginative uses of hope among Americans in the mid-twentieth century.     

Shakespeare in the Original Klingon: Star Trek and the End of History

Abstract

Maisel, L. Sandy, ed. The Parties Respond: Changes in the American Party System Boulder, CO: Westview Press 363 pp., $50.00, ISBN 0–8133–0881-X Publication Date: October 1990

Jelen, Ted G. The Political Mobilization of Religious Beliefs New York: Praeger 208 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0–275–93439-X Publication Date: March 1991

Seiden, Martin H. Access to the American Mind: The Damaging Impact of the New Mass Media New York: Shapolsky 232 pp., $18.95, ISBN 0–944007–71–6 Publication Date: May 1991

DeMott, Benjamin The Imperial Middle: Why American Can't Think Straight about Class New York: William Morrow and Company 264 pp., $18.95, ISBN 1–55710–023–3 Publication Date: October 1990

Alexander, Yonah and Richard Latter, eds. Terrorism and the Media: Dilemmas for Government, Journalists and the Public McLean, VA: Brassey's 147 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0–08–037442–5 Publication Date: December 1990

Manheim, Jarol B. All of the People All of the Time: Strategic Communication and American Politics Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe 255 pp., $25.00, ISBN 0–87332–796–9 Publication Date: March 1991

Johnson, Haynes Sleepwalking through History: America in the Reagan Years New York: W. W. Norton 500 pp., $24.95, ISBN 0–393–02937–9 Publication Date: March 1991

Heale, M. J. American Anticommunism: Combating the Enemy Within, 1830–1970 Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press 235 pp., $10.95, ISBN 0–8018–4051–1 Publication Date: November 1990

Hoeveler, J. David, Jr. Watch on the Right: Conservative Intellectuals in the Reagan Era Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press 333 pp., $24.95, ISBN 0–299–12810–5 Publication Date: April 1991

Heale, M. J. American Anticemmualsm: Combating the Enermy Within, 1930–1970 Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press 235 pp., $10.95, ISBN 08018–4051–1 Publications Date: November 1990

Kellerman, Barbara and Ryan J. Barilleaux The President as World Leader New York: St. Martin's Press 225 pp., ISBN 0–312–03603–5 Publication Date: 1991

Stephenson, D. Grier, Jr., ed.An Essential Safeguard: Essays on the United States Supreme Court and Its Justices Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 192 pp., $42.95, ISBN 0–313–27438-X Publication Date: March 1991

Koocher, Gerald P. and Patricia C. Keith-Spiegel Children, Ethics, and the Law: Professional Issues and Cases Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press 230 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0–8032–4731–1 Publication Date: September 1990

Darling, Arthur B. The Central Intelligence Agency: An Instrument of Government, to 1950 University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press 509 pp., $17.50, ISBN 0–271–00717–6 Publication Date: November 1990

Marston, David W. Malice Aforethought: How Lawyers Use Our Secret Rules to Get Rich, Get Sex, Get Even … and Get Away With It New York: William Morrow and Company 264 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0–688–07705–6 Publication Date: March 1991

Sutter, Robert G. The Cambodian Crisis and U.S. Policy Dilemmas Boulder, CO: Westview Press 135 pp., $22.50, ISBN 0–8133–8047–2 Publication Date: December 1990

Lowenthal, Abraham F., ed. Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin America Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press 422 pp., $55.00, ISBN 0–8018–4131–3 Publication Date: April 1991

Koster, R. M. and Guillermo Sánchez In the Time of the Tyrants: Panama, 1968–1990 New York: W. W. Norton 448 pp., $22.95, ISBN 0–393–02696–5 Publication Date: October 1990

Morales-Gómez, Daniel A. and Carlos Alberto Torres The State, Corporatists Politics, and Educational Policy Making in Mexico New York: Praeger 197 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0–275–93484–5 Publication Date: 1990

Mitchell, R. Judson Getting to the Top: Cyclical Patterns in the Leadership Succession Process Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press 237 pp., $23.95, ISBN 0–8179–8922–6 Publication Date: 1990

Brown, J. F. Surge to Freedom: The End of Communist Rule in Eastern Europe Durham, NC: Duke University Press 338 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0–8223–1145–3 Publication Date: May 1991

Peters, B. Guy European Politics Reconsidered New York: Holmes &; Meier 293 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0–8419–1161–4 Publication Date: February 1991

Freedman, Robert O., ed. The Middle East from the Iran-Contra Affair to the Intifada Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press 441 pp., $18.95, ISBN 0–8156–2502–2 Publication Date: February 1991

Lee, Manwoo The Odyssey of Korean Democracy: Korean Politics, 1987–1990 New York: Praeger 184 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0–275–93660–0 Publication Date: September 1990

Menashri, David, ed. The Iranlan Revolution and the Muslim World Boulder, CO: Westview Press 282 pp., $32.00, ISBN 0–8133–7751-X Publication Date: November 1990

Genther, Phyllis A. A History of Japan's Government-Business Relationship: The Passenger Car Industry Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan 242 pp., $14.95, ISBN 0–939512–40–8 Publication Date: 1990

Liska, George The Ways of Power New York: Basil Blackwell 511 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0–631–17188–6 Publication Date: 1990

Kimmel, Michael S. Revolution: A Sociological Interpretation Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press 252 pp., $44.95 cloth, $15.95 paper ISBN 0–87722–736–3 cloth ISBN 0–87722–741–1 paper Publication Date: December 1990

Freedman, Lawrence, ed. Europe Transformed: Documents on the End of the Cold War New York: St. Martin's Press 512 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0–312–05225–1 Publication Date: October 1990

Kinney, Douglas National Interest/National Honor: The Diplomacy of the Falklands Crisis New York: Praeger 372 pp., $49.95, ISBN 0–275–92425–4 Publication Date: 1989

Lodge, Juliet, ed. The 1989 Election of the European Parliament New York: St. Martin's Press 249 pp., $49.95, ISBN 0–312–04494–1 Publication Date: September 1990

Strom, Kaare Minority Government and Majority Rule New York: Cambridge University Press 293 pp., $39.50, ISBN 0–521–37431–6 Publication Date: July 1990

Scharpe, Fritz W., trans, by Ruth Crowley and Fred Thompson Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 303 pp., $49.95 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0–8014–2221–3 paper Publication Date: May 1991

Smart, Paul Mill and Marx: Individual Liberty and the Roads to Freedom New York: St. Martin's Press 202 pp., ISBN 0–7190–3333–0 Publication Date: 1991

Maxwell, Kenneth, ed. Spanish Foreign and Defense Policy Boulder, CO: Westview Press 265 pp., $31.50, ISBN 0–8133–1113–6 Publication Date: May 1991

Derogy, Jacques Resistance &; Revenge: The Armenian Assassination of the Turkish Leaders Responsible for the 1915 Massacres and Deportations New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction 206 pp., ISBN 0–88738–338–6 Publication Date: 1990

Procter, David E. Enacting Political Culture: Rhetorical Transformations of Liberty Weekend 1986 New York: Praeger 144 pp., $37.95, ISBN 0–275–93489–6 Publication Date: October 1990     

Material,Political, and Biopolitical Dimensions of “Waste” in California Water Law

California's state constitution prohibits the “wasteful” use of water; however, waste is subjective and context dependent. This paper considers political, biopolitical, and material dimensions of waste, focusing on the role of legal processes and institutions. The paper examines a case involving legal accusations of “waste and unreasonable use” of water by the Imperial Irrigation District in Imperial County, California. The determination that water was being “wasted” justified the transfer of water from agricultural to urban areas. However, defining these flows of water as a waste neglected water's complexity and relationality, and the enclosure of a “paracommons” threatens to bring about negative environmental and public health consequences. The paper shows that the project of discursively labeling certain material resource flows as waste and re‐allocating these resources to correct this moral and economic failure relies upon legal processes, and carries political and biopolitical implications.