Mental Health Nursing: Nursing History and Humanities

Contributors from a range of disciplines use a variety of source material to examine both continuity and change in the history of care over two centuries. The rise of the professional nurse is an important part of the narrative, but the detailed studies in this volume reveal that the working lives of paid carers were always shaped by wider social, economic and political forces. Most of the chapters concentrate on Britain and Ireland but an Australian contribution provides useful insight into how these models of care were exported and understood in a colonial context.

The case studies engage with classic history of nursing texts but also develop new perspectives that are brought together in a comprehensive introduction. The book benefits from a foreword by Mick Carpenter who thoughtfully locates the work within traditional and new literature debates. It will appeal to researchers and students interested in all aspects of the history of nursing and the history of care. The book is also designed to be accessible to practitioners and the general reader.