The compassionate application of the gospel of germs is as important as ever for human welfare not only in the United States but also throughout the world. Her enthnoscientific approach honours both the biological dimension of disease and the cultural construction of cleanliness. A superbly written account. It was not always so. Most histories of the transformations wrought by the germ theory of disease deal with the introduction of immunisation and of sterile surgical techniques.
Tomes takes a more general view and examines the impact of the germ theory on daily life.
This book is social history at its best. The lesson here is that superstition is as rife today as it was a hundred years ago. By focusing on the important subplot in the larger history of health and medicine, she is advancing our knowledge of the classic dilemma between advocacy of individual as opposed to community health, and broadening our understanding of preventative medicine. This excellent study asks important questions about the state of medicine in America by deepening our appreciation of its social implications. This book is essential reading for historians of American medicine and public health, and will prove equally interesting for the general reading public, who may have long puzzled over their grandmothers' obsessive preoccupation with germs.