Sometimes, history can solve a medical mystery; at other times, it can point to the right treatment or console a despairing doctor by demonstrating a timeless connection to unchanging aspects of human existence. In Clio in the Clinic, twenty-three doctors, each of whom is also an accomplished historian, write autobiographically about how they use history in their practice of medicine. Their stories of clinical experiences show that historical thinking can serve in the diagnosis and care of patients.These essays constitute new evidence for an old argument about the utility of history in...

Sometimes, history can solve a medical mystery; at other times, it can point to the right treatment or console a despairing doctor by demonstrating a timeless connection to unchanging aspects of human existence. In Clio in the Clinic, twenty-three doctors, each of whom is also an accomplished historian, write autobiographically about how they use history in their practice of medicine. Their stories of clinical experiences show that historical thinking can serve in the diagnosis and care of patients.These essays constitute new evidence for an old argument about the utility of history in...