Böcker av Michael Worboys

We know that there were dogs in Victorian Britain, but who were the 'Doggy People' who kept them, bred them, showed them, worked with them and cared for them? Chapter by chapter, this book reveals the varied and often eccentric lives of the Victorians who helped define dogs as we know them today. The cast runs from the very pinnacle of society, Queen Victoria, to near the bottom with Jemmy Shaw, a publican, boxer, promoter of dog-fights and rat-killing. The others include an artist, aristocrats, authors, a clergyman, doctors, a dog-dealer, a feminist, journalists, landowners, millionaires, philanthropists, politicians, scientists, a stockbroker, veterinarians, and a showman - none other their Charles Cruft. Looking at the invention and meaning of new breeds such as poodles, collies, Jack Russells, and borzois amongst others, we see how the Victorians thought about pets, sports, dog shows and animal rights.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. The narrative of 20th-century medicine is the conquering of acute infectious diseases and the rise in chronic, degenerative diseases. The history of fungal infections does not fit this picture. This book charts the path of fungal infections from the mid 19th century to the dawn of the 21st century.

Rabies was a constant threat in Victorian Britain and gripped popular imagination, not least because its human form, hydrophobia, produced a vile death with the mind and body out of control. This book explores the changing understanding of rabies amongst veterinarians, animal welfare campaigners, state officials, politicians and the public.

Spreading Germs discusses how modern ideas on the bacterial causes of communicable diseases were constructed and spread within the British medical profession in the last third of the nineteenth century. Michael Worboys surveys many existing interpretations of this pivotal moment in modern medicine.