A study of the development of the medical profession and the health system in Costa Rica, integrating an analysis of class, gender, professional hierarchy, and a comparative perspective on the health care systems of other nations.

"From Popular Medicine to Medical Populism" presents the history of medical practice in Costa Rica from the late colonial era--when none of the fifty thousand inhabitants had access to a titled physician, pharmacist, or midwife--to the 1940s, when the figure of the qualified medical doctor was part of everyday life for many of Costa Rica's nearly one million citizens. It is the first book to chronicle the history of all healers, both professional and popular, in a Latin American country during the national period.
Steven Palmer breaks with the view of popular and professional medicine...

Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, "The Costa Rica Reader" brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country s...

Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, "The Costa Rica Reader" brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country s...