Although scorned in the early 1900s and publicly condemned by Abraham Flexner and the American Medical Association, the practice of homeopathy did not disappear. Instead, it evolved with the emergence of holistic healing and Eastern philosophy in the United States and today is a form of alternative medicine practiced by more than 100,000 physicians worldwide and used by millions of people to treat everyday ailments as well as acute and chronic diseases. The History of American Homeopathy traces the rise of lay practitioners in shaping homeopathy as a healing system and its relationship to other forms of complementary and alternative medicine in an age when conventional biomedicine remains the dominant form. Representing the most current and up-to-date history of American homeopathy, readers will benefit from John S. Haller Jr.'s comprehensive explanation of complementary medicine within the American social, scientific, religious, and philosophic traditions.

Discover how homeopathic practice developed alongside regular medicine Explore the history of American homeopathy from its roots in the early nineteenth century, through its burgeoning acceptance, to its subsequent fall from favor. The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935 discusses the development of homeopathy’s unorthodox therapies, the reasons behind its widespread growth and popularity, and its development during medicine’s introspective age of doubt and the emergence of scientific reductionism. Not only does the book explain homeopathy within the same social, scientific, and philosophic traditions that affected other schools of the healing art, but it also promotes a more integrative connection between homeopathy’s unconventional therapeutics and the rigors of scientific medicine. The History of American Homeopathy examines the work of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy—the development of his and other practitioners’ theories, and the factors in the growth and later withering of acceptance. You’ll learn the reasons behind homeopathy’s wave of popularity in nineteenth-century America and the impact of regular medicine’s shift to rationalistic system-theories and laboratory science on homeopathy. Discover how homeopathy emerged from the system-theories of the late eighteenth century; the mounting ideological differences within this unorthodox health art; its destructive internal feuds; and the factors that led to the eventual turning over of homeopathies to regular medicine. The History of American Homeopathy answers questions such as: how did the state of medicine in the early nineteenth century facilitate the public acceptance of Hahnemann’s theories? what were the relationships between regualr medicine and homeopathy? what tensions surfaced between academic and domestic homeopathy? how did homeopathic medical schools emerge, and what were their regional and philosophical distinctions? what was the impact of scientific medicine on homeopathy? what were the reasons for the growing division between the liberal wing of homeopathy and the more conservative Hahnemannians, and what effect did it have on the movement? The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935 is an informative, insightful exploration of homeopathy’s roots that is valuable for medical historians, history students, homeopaths, alternative medical organizations, holistic healing societies, homeopathic study groups, homeopathic seminars and courses, and anyone interested in homeopathy.

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