First published 1963
In the tumultuous years after the French Revolution, a radical shift took place in the understanding of the human body and the practice of medicine. Foucault traces this transformation, revealing how new social and political forces reshaped the very language and methods of the clinic. From the bedside to the autopsy table, the body became a canvas for mapping unseen pathologies, while the power dynamics of the medical profession were redrawn. This intellectual history lays bare the contingent origins of our most fundamental assumptions about health, disease, and the limits of the human form.
Genres: 20th-century, non-fiction, history-of-medicine, academic, history-of-science
Vibes: intellectual, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: intellectual-history
Setting: France
Period: 19th-century
215 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon