From Body to Community

Cristian Berco is the Canada Research Chair in Social and Cultural Difference and a professor in the Department of History at Bishop’s University.

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1. Getting Sick: Signs, Sin, and Social WorthChapter 2. Encounters of the Third Kind: Medical Assumptions and PatientsChapter 3. Melting Pot: The Hospital de Santiago’s PatientsChapter 4. Safeguarding Reputation: Gender, Hospitalization, and TextilesChapter 5. Between Body and Soul: Treatment at the Hospital de SantiagoChapter 6. Getting Hitched: Pox, Sexuality and MarriageChapter 7. Making Ends Meet: Disease, Work, and FamilyChapter 8. Playing Nice with Others: Pox and CommunityConclusion

‘Berco’s study provides an important contribution for any future comparative work. Scholars should benefit from and extend Berco’s innovative use of sources.’- Mona O’Brien (H-Histsex, H-Net Reviews August 2016) ‘Berco’s writing style is commendable as it avoids medical jargon…. Despite the subject matter, it was a fun to read suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate student.’- Daniel A. Crew (Renaissance Quarterly vol 70:02:2017) ‘A fascinating book that tells the stories of lives that intersected in the Hospital de Santiago.’- John Slater (Isis Journal September 2017) "Berco has produced a very readable book, of interest to those studying the history of Baroque Spain and the history of medicine."- Robert Weston, The University of Western Australia (Parergon 35.1) "This volume significantly enhances our understanding of the pox in early modern Iberia."- Kevin Siena, Trent University (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018) ‘Berco is to be commended for making such diligent and fruitful use of what are generally quite dry and often tedious records to scour… This book contributes an important perspective for both medical and social historians.’- Kristy Wilson Bowers (Canadian Journal of History vol 51:03:2016)