Ruth Rogaski
Leprosy in China is a monumental work crafted by the top scholar in the field of the social and cultural history of Chinese medicine. Truly comprehensive, complex, and sophisticated, this book is the definitive study of one of the most symbolically important diseases in world history. It already stands as the only comprehensive book on a single disease in Chinese history available in English. As such, Leprosy in China sets the stage for a new direction in Asian medical history.
Ruth Rogaski, associate professor of history, Vanderbilt University
Charlotte Furth
Leprosy in China is a major work by one of our finest historians of the social history of medicine. The medieval story of leprosy as seen through religion, medicine, and folklore will attract East-West comparativists interested in the deep history of medicine and culture. The modern nineteenth- and twentieth-century story places China at the center of the worldwide public health crisis over leprosy-a crisis shaped as much by ancient fears and anxieties of empire as by scientific innovation. This book will be essential reading for all who care about a truly global, postcolonial, and critical history of public health.
Charlotte Furth, University of Southern California
Richard von Glahn
Building on her complex history of the conception and treatment of leprosy in China, Angela Ki Che Leung offers an enlightening examination of the social history of the disease, especially its unique role in the stigmatization of Chinese and other Asians as preternaturally sickly races, which led to campaigns to eradicate the disease through modern drug therapies. In terms of both its historical breadth and its deep research, this fascinating study stands as one of the finest contributions to the history of medicine in China.
Richard von Glahn, professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles
Warwick H. Anderson
In this fascinating contribution, Angela Ki Che Leung vividly traces the biography of leprosy in China, a horrifying malady that organized perceptions of human difference and civic status within the region. Its dreadful career thus provides fresh insight into the bodily dimensions and redemptive tone of Chinese nationalism and state building.
Warwick H. Anderson, University of Sydney