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Between the two World Wars an illness that mainly affects adults over fifty years old became so prominent that it superseded both tuberculosis and syphilis in importance.As Patrice Pinell shows, the effect of cancer in France before World War Two reached far beyond the question of its mortality rates. Pinell's socio-historical approach to the early developments in the fight against cancer describes how scientific, therapeutic, philanthropic, ethical, social, economics and political interest combined to transform medicine.
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RECTO RUNNING HEAD The Fight Against Cancer How did cancer, a pathology identified for over 2,000 years, turn suddenly at the beginning of the twentieth century into the scourge of our modern times? Why and how did an illness that is not an epidemic, and is not contagious, end up being considered a threat to the very balance of society? Between the two World Wars an illness that mainly affects adults over fifty years old became so prominent that it superseded both tuberculosis and syphilis in importance. As Patrice Pinell shows, the effect of cancer in France before the Second World War reached far beyond the question of its mortality rates. Pinell's socio-historical approach to the early developments in the fight against cancer describes how scientific, therapeutic, philanthropic, ethical, social, economic and political interest combined to transform medicine. Patrice Pinell is Directeur de recherche at the Institut National de la Recherche Médical (INSERM). He is an historian and sociologist of medicine, and has worked on topics such as the medicalisation of school failures (Un siécle d’éches scolaires), the anti-cancer war (Naissance d’un Fléau), the AIDS movement in France (Un épidémie politique), and the history of muscular dystophy. # Author Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Edited by John Krige, CRHST, Paris, France Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine aims to stimulate research in the field, concentrating on the twentieth century. It seeks to contribute to our understanding of science, technology and medicine as they are embedded in society, exploring the links between the subjects on the one hand and the cultural, economic, political and institutional contexts of their genesis and development on the other. Within this framework, and while not favouring any particular methodological approach, the series welcomes studies which examine relations between science, technology, medicine and society in new ways, e.g. the social construction of technologies, large technical systems, etc. 1. Technological Change Methods and themes in the history of technology Edited by Robert Fox 2. Technology Transfer out of Germany after 1945 Edited by Matthias Judt and Burghard Ciesla 3. Entomology, Ecology and Agriculture The making of scientific careers in North America, 1885–1985 Paolo Palladino 4. The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology Edited by Thomas Söderquist 5. Science and Spectacle The work of Jodrell bank in post-war British culture Jon Agar 6. Molecularizing Biology and Medicine New practices and alliances, 1910s–1970s Edited by Soraya de Chadarevian and Harmke Kamming 7. Cold War, Hot Science Applied research in Britain’s defence laboratories 1945–1990 Edited by Robert Bud and Philip Gammett 8. Planning Armageddon Britain, the United States and the command of Western Nuclear Forces 1945–1964 Stephen Twigge and Len Scott Chapter title 9. Cultures of Control Edited by Miriam R. Levin 10. Science, Cold War and the American State Lloyd V. Berkner and the balance of professional ideals Alan A. Needell 11. Reconsidering Sputnik Forty years since the Soviet satellite Edited by Roger D. Launius 12. Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges Comparing the history of women engine