Medicine Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/medicine/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Sat, 17 Jan 2026 02:18:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Medicine Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/medicine/ 32 32 COVID: The Pandemic Without Honor? https://www.publicbooks.org/british-state-responses-covid-richard-horton-jeremy-farrar/ Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:00:51 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=48149 “I don’t believe there was any conspiracy inside government to kill people off,” a health official explains. “From what I saw there was no plan.”

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]]> The Ten Thousand Things https://www.publicbooks.org/the-ten-thousand-things/ Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:00:34 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=44166 “I am supposed to be writing this essay, ostensibly on technology, but not for the first time, I believe I am unable to write; and not writing, doubt that I will I ever write again.”

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]]> Think like a Virus https://www.publicbooks.org/think-like-a-virus/ Thu, 07 Jan 2021 16:00:10 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=40585 Rather than accepting that a virus will come, we can learn how viruses live and thrive—and work to suppress them before they take off.

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]]> To Heal the Body, Heal the Body Politic https://www.publicbooks.org/to-heal-the-body-heal-the-body-politic/ Thu, 19 Nov 2020 16:00:26 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=39582 Before 2020, the relationship that is the body was already ailing. COVID-19 heightens the need to heal it.

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]]> Reading Patients, Writing Care https://www.publicbooks.org/reading-patients-writing-care/ Wed, 04 Nov 2020 16:00:22 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=39341 A palliative-care physician’s memoir foregrounds the affective aspects of attending to patients as an avenue to political activism.

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]]> India in COVID-19: A Tragedy Foretold https://www.publicbooks.org/india-in-covid-19-a-tragedy-foretold/ Tue, 18 Aug 2020 15:00:17 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=38088 The lockdown had terrible consequences on India’s informal economy, and will deepen the socioeconomic inequalities that divide the country.[none-for-homepage]

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]]> The Art of Care: Susannah Cahalan on Madness, Diagnosis, and COVID-19 https://www.publicbooks.org/the-art-of-care-susannah-cahalan-on-madness-diagnosis-and-covid-19/ Thu, 30 Jul 2020 15:00:08 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=37673 “These are not the stories that medicine necessarily wants us to tell, but that means it’s even doubly important that we try our best to track down these narratives.”[none-for-homepage]

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]]> Pandemic Syllabus https://www.publicbooks.org/pandemic-syllabus/ Mon, 13 Jul 2020 15:00:44 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=37188 Disease has never been merely a biological phenomenon. Instead, all illnesses—including COVID-19—are social problems for humans to solve.

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]]> Listen to the Birds https://www.publicbooks.org/listen-to-the-birds/ Fri, 03 Jul 2020 12:30:57 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=37003 Avian flu came from environmental devastation, an increasingly interconnected world, and a growing population—just like COVID-19.

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]]> Our Drugs, Ourselves https://www.publicbooks.org/our-drugs-ourselves/ Fri, 23 Nov 2018 16:00:27 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=25021 Is the term “drugs” still meaningful? Many of us would confess to being at least mildly dependent on some substance, be it single-origin coffee or Sancerre, antidepressants or anti-inflammatories, Red Bull or Ritalin. Because such a wide range of substances characterizes everyday middle- and working-class life, their indiscriminate lumping under the heading “drugs” is proving […]

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