Back to Results
Cover image of Do Less Harm
Preorder
Cover image of Do Less Harm
Share this Title:

Do Less Harm

Ethical Questions for Health Historians

edited by Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith
Publication Date
Binding Type

Offers reflections, provocative questions, and practical strategies for ethical, responsible approaches to health history.

In Do Less Harm, editors Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith bring together a group of leading historians and scholars to confront one of the most pressing questions in health history: How can we ethically approach stories of medicine and health without perpetuating harm? This thought-provoking collection invites readers into a crucial conversation about the responsibilities of historians when documenting the past.

Through carefully curated essays, the contributors...

Read More

Offers reflections, provocative questions, and practical strategies for ethical, responsible approaches to health history.

In Do Less Harm, editors Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith bring together a group of leading historians and scholars to confront one of the most pressing questions in health history: How can we ethically approach stories of medicine and health without perpetuating harm? This thought-provoking collection invites readers into a crucial conversation about the responsibilities of historians when documenting the past.

Through carefully curated essays, the contributors explore the ethical dilemmas that arise in researching, teaching, and writing about the history of health care. From patient privacy to the politics of archives, the essays cover how health histories have often overlooked, misunderstood, or misrepresented the people and communities most affected by medical practices. The contributors challenge the assumptions of the field, offering a more thoughtful approach to historical research—one that emphasizes empathy, accountability, and inclusivity.

The book raises provocative questions and proposes practical strategies for historians and scholars to do less harm in their work and is organized around key themes such as research, teaching, writing, and public engagement, making it an indispensable resource for anyone working in the history of health care, ethics, or the health humanities. With its engaging style and accessible insights, Do Less Harm offers a fresh and timely perspective for academics, students, and readers interested in the ethical challenges of representing the past.

Read Less
About
Related Books
Reviews
Details
Authors
Related

Related Books

Cover image of Locating Medical History
Locating Medical History

edited by Frank Huisman and John Harley Warner

$47.00
Quick Add Locating Medical History
Cover image of Locating Medical History
Locating Medical History

edited by Frank Huisman and John Harley Warner

Publication Date
Binding Type
Preorder
Info page for book: The Care of Strangers
The Care of Strangers

Eram Alam

$64.95
Quick Add The Care of Strangers
Info page for book: The Care of Strangers
The Care of Strangers

Eram Alam

Publication Date: October 14, 2025
Binding Type
Cover image of Criticizing Science
Criticizing Science

Myrna Perez

$54.95
Quick Add Criticizing Science
Cover image of Criticizing Science
Criticizing Science

Myrna Perez

Publication Date
Binding Type
Preorder
Info page for book: Fevered Cities
Fevered Cities

Randall M. Packard

$39.95
Quick Add Fevered Cities
Info page for book: Fevered Cities
Fevered Cities

Randall M. Packard

Publication Date: August 12, 2025
Binding Type
About

Book Details

Release Date
Publication Date
Status
Preorder
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
392
ISBN
9781421452265
DOI
Illustration Description
7 b&w illus.
Series
Subject
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Field Guide to Doing Less Harm
Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith
Part I. The Historian
1 Becoming an Ethical Historian
Richard A. McKay
2 Positionality and the

See More

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Field Guide to Doing Less Harm
Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith
Part I. The Historian
1 Becoming an Ethical Historian
Richard A. McKay
2 Positionality and the History of Medicine
Barron H. Lerner
3 Reparatory History
Kylie M. Smith
4 Accessibility
Nicole Lee Schroeder
5 Advocacy and Activism
Jess Dillard-Wright
Part II. Archives and Museums
6 Decolonizing Archives and Museums
Shelley Angelie Saggar
7 Advising around Human Remains Collections
Melissa Grafe
8 Identifying the Human in Human Remains Collections
Aisling Shalvey
9 Stewardship of "Challenging" History of Medicine Collections
Amanda L. Mahoney
10 Disability, Archives, and Museums
Katrina Jirik
11 The Commercialization of Remains and Records
Aparna Nair
Part III. Research
12 Ethics and Ghosts beyond the Institutional Review Board
Marco Antonio Ramos
13 Silences and Violence
Ayah Nuriddin
14 Patients and Survivors
Jonathan Sadowsky
15 Writing Ethical Medical History with Legal Sources
Lauren MacIvor Thompson
16 Expert Witnessing History
Stephen T. Casper
Part IV. Writing
17 Names
Adria L. Imada
18 Diagnoses and Language
Claire D. Clark and Amy C. Sullivan
19 Writing about Images
Michaela Clark
20 Citation
Courtney E. Thompson
21 Peer Review and Editing
Ahmed Ragab
22 Cultivating Ethical Strategies in Digital Health Humanities
Britt Dahlberg and Jessica Martucci
Part V. Teaching
23 Centering the Margins
Antoine S. Johnson
24 Images and Primary Sources
Beatriz Pichel
25 Discomfort and Compassion in the Classroom
Cornelia Lambert
26 The Problems with Partners
Sharrona Pearl
27 Teaching Graduate Students about Ethics
Shannon K. Withycombe
28 The Ethics of Teaching Future Health Professionals
Lan A. Li
Conclusion: The Expanding Ethics of Doing Health History: A Personal Journey
Susan M. Reverby
Coda: A Report, a Turn
Courtney E. Thompson
Appendix A: Ethical Questions for Health Historians to Consider
Appendix B: Recommended Readings
Contributors
Index

See Less
Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Courtney E. Thompson

Courtney E. Thompson is an associate professor of history at Mississippi State University. She is the author of An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in Nineteenth-Century America.
Read more
Featured Contributor

Kylie M. Smith

Kylie M. Smith is an associate professor and the director of the Center for Healthcare History and Policy at Emory University. She is the author of Talking Therapy: Knowledge and Power in American Psychiatric Nursing.
Read more

Site Menu

Customer Service