The History of Pain (Paper)

Throughout the ages pain has intrigued those who focus on the soul and the sacred in equal measure to those who specialize in the body and medicine. The author draws upon multidisciplinary sources to explore this universally shared experience. From classical anitiquity to the 20th-century, she contrasts the different cultural perceptions of pain in each period, as well as the medical theories advanced to explain its mechanisms, and the various therapeutic remedies formulated to relieve those suffering from it.