NLM Call no. These and the large format and arrangement make the work comparable to a number of similar references to be found in the section on the history of medicine in a public library. All of these books went about presenting aspects of the history of medicine in much the same format as Rutkow. Medicine is alive with eponyms, those pesky names no layperson can remember and that don't suggest the disease, syndrome, instrument, procedure, position or chemical solution they specify. This book helps bring to life the men whose names these are.
Women appear in illustrations and text mostly as nurses, wives, daughters and patients.
Other socioeconomic issues are treated not only in text but in historical outlines that help chart the eras Rudkow uses to divide the first two-thirds of the book. The last third of the work is concerned with surgical specialties and the biographies of noted surgeons in these fields. Lastly, references and a detailed index complete the volume. Although some of the pictures are graphic, most draw the browser into the book to find out more about the people or the artifacts. All in all, this is recommended as a good addition to a library section on the history of medicine.