Chronic Disease in the Twentieth Century

George Weisz. Chronic Disease in the Twentieth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 2014. Available at: https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/chronic-disease-twentieth-century

Even lingering diseases like tuberculosis, a leading cause of mortality, did not inspire dedicated public health activities until the later decades of the nineteenth century, when it became understood as a treatable infectious disease. Historian of medicine George Weisz analyzes why the idea of chronic disease assumed critical importance in the twentieth century and how it acquired new meaning as one of the most serious problems facing national healthcare systems.