| Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery Contributor(s): Gollaher, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 0465026532 ISBN-13: 9780465026531 Publisher: Basic Books OUR PRICE: $19.79 Product Type: Paperback Published: February 2001 Annotation: How has a medical practice that carries substantial risk to the patient and offers very little actual benefit become so widely accepted by parents and fiercely advocated by the medical community? Historian of medicine David Gollaher tells the strange history of medicine's oldest enigma and most persistent ritual in Circumcision. From the extraordinarily painful initiation rite of the ancient Egyptians, through the Hebrew purification ritual, through circumcision's use by the rising medical community in the nineteenth century as prevention for ailments ranging from bedwetting to paralysis, the great mystery has been the persistence of the practice through vastly different social contexts. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Medical | History - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - Social Science | Customs & Traditions |
| Dewey: 392.1 |
| Lexile Measure: 1460 |
| Physical Information: 0.76" H x 6.13" W x 9.18" (0.86 lbs) 272 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: From the extraordinarily painful initiation rite of the ancient Egyptians, through the Hebrew purification ritual, through its use by nineteenth-century doctors as prevention for ailments including bedwetting, paralysis, and epilepsy, circumcision has had a long and varied history. Perhaps the greatest mystery, however, is its persistence over time through vastly different social contexts.Historian of medicine David Gollaher takes a comprehensive look at the practice in this lively, scholarly history. Circumcision also addresses the growing controversy over the procedure's continuance, and those opposing routine circumcision will find support here. Gollaher concludes that if male circumcision were confined to developing nations, it would by now have emerged as an international cause cĂ(c)bre. |
