Diagnosing History

This timely collection examines representations of medicine and medical practices in international period drama television. A preoccupation with medical plots and settings can be found across a range of important historical series, including <i>Outlander</i>, <i>Poldark</i>, <i>The Knick</i>, <i>Call the Midwife</i>, <i>La Peste</i> and <i>A Place to Call Home</i>. Such shows offer a critique of medical history while demonstrating how contemporary viewers access and understand the past. Topics covered in this collection include the innovations and horrors of surgery; the intersection of gender, class, race and medicine on the American frontier; psychiatry and the trauma of war; and the connections between past and present pandemics. Featuring original chapters on period television from the UK, the US, Spain and Australia, <i>Diagnosing history </i>offers an accessible, global and multidisciplinary contribution to both televisual and medical history.