{"product_id":"9781836430773","title":"The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack : How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor:  Skuse, Dr. Alanna \u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eBritish Isles\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 16 October 2025 by Oneworld Publications in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardback | 384 pages\u003cbr\u003e147 x 226 x 36 | 488g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDiscover the remarkable birth of modern medicine... and how not to die in the Renaissance'An entertaining history of medicine… Skuse brings a deep familiarity with the contemporary sources and a dry wit.' Dan Jones, The Sunday TimesThe cliched view medicine in the Renaissance world is dreadful: gore-splattered hacksaws, arsenic concoctions, the four humours and all those leeches…Reality, however, proves somewhat different.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a medical revolution was afoot. Physicians’ education was being formalised. Surgeons were documenting the intricacies of the human body with ever-greater skill. And, as European powers expanded into the New World, novel medicines and treatments were being discovered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlanna Skuse ventures into the bustling medical marketplace of Renaissance England – a world of travelling surgeons, prosthetics craftsmen, faith healers and snake oil merchants.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDiscover domestic healers like Elizabeth Freke, a doyenne of folk remedies, always ready to dole out tonics and elixirs to her ailing neighbours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrowse the shelves of the early modern apothecary with Nicholas Culpeper as he lays the groundwork for the modern pharmacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeet the expert midwife Jane Sharp, successful author and pioneer of women's health.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoin the intrepid plague doctor George Thomson as he braves London's Great Plague.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Humane and entrancing, The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack reveals the people and stories behind a scientific revolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Fascinating.' Daily Mail'Meticulously researched and deliciously detailed.' Victoria Shepherd, author of A History of Delusions\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Guisborough Bookshop Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52303140520272,"sku":"9781836430773","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0860\/4988\/2448\/files\/9781836430773_fc67b7f9-b5d0-4cf5-b7ab-6a4110a6f054.jpg?v=1765990965","url":"https:\/\/guisboroughbookshop.co.uk\/products\/9781836430773","provider":"guisboroughbookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}