The History of American Homeopathy: From Rational Medicine to Holistic Health Care

Haller (history and medical humanities, Southern Illinois U., Carbondale) offers a detailed and balanced account of the history of homeopathy in the US, focusing on the rise of lay practitioners in shaping homeopathy and its relationship to other forms of complementary and alternative medicine. The book continues his other volume, The History of Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935, by picking up the story at the period of the decline of academic homeopathy with the closing of colleges, hospitals, and clinics in the 1920s and 1930s. It discusses new theories that emerged; the growth of the role of the lay practitioner and decline of trained physicians; the expansion of the field during World War II; challenges as homeopathy changed in status to a nonmedical therapy; and recent controversy among homeopaths regarding accepting new ideas or sticking with the field's roots and the vision of its founder, Samuel Hahnemann. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)