Mark Jackson is professor of the History of Medicine and director of the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter. He is the author of many books including New-Born Child Murder: Women, Illegitimacy and the Courts in Eighteenth-Century England (1996), and The Borderland of Imbecility: Medicine, Society and the Fabrication of the Feeble Mind in Late Victorian and Edwardian England (2000).
"An important book because Jackson achieves a goal broadly shared, but infrequently realised, by current historians of medicine: to integrate biological and cultural events and to synchronise scientific change and social forces in a perceptive analysis. . . . a fine book." (
The Lancet 2006-11-01)
"Numerous books have been written about the history of immunology, but none to this reviewer's knowledge that focuses specifically on allergies. To boot, Jackson looks beyond medical aspects to analyze social, cultural, political, geographical, and economic implications. This is heavy reading well worth the effort, with exhaustive references that contribute to the book's scholarly value. Highly recommended." (Tina Neville
Library Journal 2006-05-01)
"As you snuffle through the next pollen season, you might be consoled by reading this fascinating book." (Adrian Barnett
New Scientist 2006-05-13)
"Social histories like this one provide a needed corrective to the reconstructions offered from the benefit of scientific hindsight. . . Jackson has provided a rich example of how allergy has undergone shifted meaning—scientific and social—as well as illustrating Western health care practices of the last century." (Alfred I. Tauber
Journal of the American Medical Association 2006-05-10)
"The beauty of Jackson's study is his combination of the cultural and social with the medical, the result of which is a masterful overview of the evolution of the allergy as a public health problem. . . . His book provides a comprehensive look at allergies as a phenomenon in culture, politics, and science." (
Publishers Weekly 2006-06-12)
"He makes a convincing argument that to look on his subject in a straightforward way will not do, and it's impossible to understand allergy without placing it in the context of modern medicine. . . . Excellent account." (Hugh Pennington
London Review of Books 2006-06-22)
"Meticulously researched and written, and of undoubted value." (Jeremy Laurance
The Independent 2006-06-12)
"Meticulously researched. . . . Jackson's fascinating study is undoubtedly an important contribution to the social history of medicine." (
The Guardian 2006-07-29)
"The book provides a perceptive insight into the historical development of allergy, indicating how thinking changes. It gives fascinating vignettes of key researchers involved in the history of allergy and contains some interesting anecdotes about their lives. . . . Jackson’s succinct and clearly written book is aimed at the informed lay reader. He admirably avoids using jargon and scientific terminology, and gives fascinating insight into the rise in allergic diseases and how this is linked to our modern lifestyle. I recommend this book, which helps us to understand the relationship between health and the environment, and explains why modern living can be detrimental to our health."
(Peter J. Barnes
Nature 2006-08-01)
"Jackson is at his most alert on the recent history, real and metaphorical. This is as much a book about the modern imagination as about suffering. . . . Allergy, as Jackson demonstrates, is both a medical reality and a cultural phantasm." (Brian Dillon
Financial Times 2006-07-22)