Planet Medicine Origins Paperback - 2001

First line

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT HEALING: its origin in primary and ancient modes of knowledge, its basis as a social category, and its diverse meanings and values, from culture to culture and through human history.

Media reviews

"Every chapter challenges countercultural cliches and assumtions while revealing a deep sympathy for—and the necessity for—alternative modes of healing. This book provides a comprehensive philosophical and historical overview of healing throughout the planet."—New Age Journal"A remarkable book that looks at not only the history of medicine but the deeper anthropological and psychocultural roots of the ideas of healing that have appeared all across human history. In both its factual and speculative content it is brilliant and original..."—Richard Grossman"In this brilliant and original book, healing is taken from its contemporary limited definition into the universal realm of humanity's primary knowledge, bridging cultural and metaphysical assumptions about the meaning of disease and cure. From Stone Age shamanism to post-industrial medicine, Grossinger, an anthropologist, leads us through a dazzling, erudite account of the beginning concepts of medicine, healing, and cultural beliefs about disease."—Irene Alleger, Townsend Letter for Doctors