Tuberculosis was perceived for the first time in the early twentieth century as a major problem warranting state involvement in a national campaign for its eradication. This book examines the rise of the anti-tuberculosis movement in Britain, and the development of a new public health service and medical specialism, discussing why the campaign took the particular form it did. The importance of the study lies in its conception of medical history not as a series of scientific discoveries and technological developments, but as an integral part of a broader social and political scene. The patient, often neglected in medical history, is given close attention in an attempt to understand how the disease has been viewed during this century, and the impact it has had on society. Below the Magic Mountain shows that medicine cannot be understood in isolation from the society of which it is a part.

Tuberculosis was perceived for the first time in the early twentieth century as a major problem warranting state involvement in a national campaign for its eradication. This book examines the rise of the anti-tuberculosis movement in Britain, and the development of a new public health service and medical specialism, discussing why the campaign took the particular form it did. The importance of the study lies in its conception of medical history not as a series of scientific discoveries and technological developments, but as an integral part of a broader social and political scene.

A cautious and scholarly study of the unromantic character of tuberculosis and of the ineffective public campaigns organized to fight it in Britain in the first fifty years of this century ... a rich study ... There is so much of value in this book that it is to be hoped the author will return to the subject, to complete a story whose beginning she has told so well.