Concepts of Alzheimer Disease

Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of neurology, psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, nursing, organizational behavior, and biomedical ethics at the Fairhill Center for Aging, Case Western Reserve University, and a founding director of the Alzheimer Center at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. Konrad Maurer, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor in and head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, and director of the Clinic for Psychiatry, at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. Jesse F. Ballenger, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of ContributorsPart I: The Cases of Auguste D. And Johann F.Chapter 1. Auguste D.: The History of Alois Alzheimer's First CaseChapter 2. Johann F.: The Historical Relevance of the Case for the Concept of Alzheimer DiseasePart II: From Alzheimer to the Present Chapter 3. Neurofibrillary Changes: The Hallmark of Alzheimer DiseaseChapter 4. Contributions of German Neuroscience to the Concept of Alzheimer DiseaseChapter 5. Beyond the Characteristic Plaques and Tangles: Mid-Twentieth-Century U.S. Psychiatry and the Fight Against Senility Chapter 6. The Rediscover of Alzheimer Disease During the 1960s and 1970sChapter 7. The History of the Genetics of Alzheimer DiseasePart III: Alzheimer Disease as a Social and Cultural EntityChapter 8. Alzheimer Disease: Epistemological Lessons From History?Chapter 9. Aging, Culture, and the Framing of Alzheimer DiseaseChapter 10. Narrative Practice and the Inner World of the Alzheimer Disease ExperiencePart IV: Politics, Policy, and the Perspectives of the Caregiver and PatientChapter 11. The Role of the Concept of Alzheimer Disease in the Development of the Alzheimer's Association in the United StatesChapter 12. The History of the Alzheimer's Association: Future Public Policy Implications Chapter 13. The Concept of Alzheimer Disease in a Hypercognitive SocietyPart V: Progress and Its ProblemsChapter 14. Alzheimer Disease and the New BiologyChapter 15. The Genetics of Alzheimer Disease: Some Future ImplicationsChapter 16. History and the Future of Alzheimer DiseaseIndex

The first sentence of this excellent book sums up both its content and the reason one should read it: 'it is ironic that the professional and popular discourse surrounding Alzheimer disease (AD), whose most dreadful feature is the obliteration of memory, proceeds with little awareness of its past.' And if Santayana's often-quoted statement about those who cannot remember the past is true, what does this mean for studies of dementia? This book attempts to answer the question and does so very successfully. -- A. M. Clarfield, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine This book will be an inspiration of greatest interest to anyone engaged in biological or social research in AD. Clinical Gerontologist This is an excellent book, both for the newcomer to the study of Alzheimer disease and to the seasoned reader and clinician. -- A. MacDonald Aging and Mental Health White has written the go-to or standard account of the Haitian Revolution's impact on the United States. Even more important, she has done so in a way that opens up rather than closes off new avenues of exploration. -- Matthew Hale H-Net Reviews 2011