Illness and Healing Alternatives in Western Europe

Despite the recent upsurge in interest in alternative medicine and unorthodox healers, Illness and Healing Alternatives in Western Europe is the first book to focus closely on the relationship between belief, culture, and healing in the past. In essays on France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and England, from the sixteenth century to the present day, the authors draw on a broad range of material, from studies of demonologists and reports of asylum doctors, to church archives and oral evidence.

About the Author

Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra is Professor of Social and Cultural History at the University of Amsterdam. She has published widely on the history of witchcraft and alternative healing., Hilary Marland is Wellcome University Award Holder at the Centre for Social History, Warwick University, and is an editor of Social History of Medicine. Among her many publications are works on the history of midwifery., Hans de Waardt is Lecturer in History at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and has published extensively on witchcraft, sorcery and preacher-healers.