The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers

Bourke (history, Birkbeck, Univ. of London; An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare) analyzes the history of pain from the 1760s to the 2000s. Focusing on experiences in Europe and North America, the author notes how society, environment, physiology, and language all influence the sensation and interpretation of pain. As Bourke describes changes in the language used to communicate the feeling, she draws on an impressive range of source material including sermons, journals, hagiographies, philosophical treatises, memoirs, and advertisements. Like Michel Foucault, the author considers the power dynamics at work between doctors and patients, and between suffering people and the rest of society. However, Bourke emphasizes the agency of sufferers in that they creatively frame their own narratives about pain, thus shaping their own experiences. This book is rich with examples illustrating medical, religious, racial, and gendered discourses about its subject and the impact these have had, and continue to have, in the provision of medical care to the public.