• Preface; 1. Medical anthropology and the problem of belief; 2. Illness representations in medical anthropology: a reading of the field; 3. How medicine constructs its objects; 4. Semiotics and the study of medical reality; 5. The body, illness experience, and the lifeworld: a phenomenological account of chronic pain; 6. The narrative representation of illness; 7. Aesthetics, rationality and medical anthropology.

"The book reflects more than two decades of Good's work as a researcher, writer, and teacher....offers an excellent overview of some of the controversies in medical anthropology today and provides ample ammunition for those who would demonstrate the field's relevance to the practice of medicine. Medicine, Rationality, and Experience is essential reading for anyone interested in the common ground between the medical and social sciences. The determined reader will be rewarded with a wealth of insight relevant to clinical practice, research, and teaching." New England Journal of Medicine