Examining medical pluralism in the United States from the Revolutionary War period through the end of the twentieth
century, Hans Baer brings together in one convenient reference a vast array of information on healing systems as
diverse as Christian Science, osteopathy, acupuncture, Santeria, southern Appalachian herbalism, evangelical faith
healing, and Navajo healing.
In a country where the dominant paradigm of biomedicine (medical schools, research hospitals, clinics staffed by
M.D.s and R.N.s,) has been long established and supported by laws and regulations, the continuing appeal of other
medical systems and subsystems bears careful consideration. Distinctions of class, Baer emphasizes, as well as
differences in race, ethnicity, and gender, are fundamental to the diversity of beliefs, techniques, and social
organizations represented in the phenomenon of medical pluralism.
Baer traces the simultaneous emergence in the nineteenth century of formalized biomedicine and of homeopathy, botanic
medicine, hydropathy, Christian Science, osteopathy, and chiropractic. He examines present-day osteopathic medicine
as a system parallel to biomedicine with an emphasis on primary care; chiropractic, naturopathy, and acupuncture
as professionalized heterodox medical systems; homeopathy, herbalism, bodywork, and lay midwifery in the context
of the holistic health movement; Anglo-American religious healing; and folk medical systems, particularly among
racial and ethnic minorities. In closing, he focuses on the persistence of folk medical systems among working-class
Americans and considers the growing interest of biomedical physicians, pharmaceutical and health care corporations,
and government in the holistic health movement.