Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1. 'One of the most grievous and rebellious diseases' -- 2. 'But sad resources' -- 3. Women's agency and role in choice of treatment -- 4. 'So frightful to the very imagination' -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Works cited -- Index
Summary
Early modern physicians and surgeons tried desperately to understand breast cancer, testing new medicines and radically improving operating techniques. In this study, the first of its kind, Kaartinen explores the emotional responses of patients and their families to the disease in the long eighteenth century