Rabies in Britain Dogs, Disease and Culture, 1830-2000 [Hardcover]

Rabies was a constant threat in Victorian Britain and gripped popular imagination, not least because its human form, hydrophobia, produced a vile death with the mind and body out of control. This book explores the changing understanding of rabies amongst veterinarians, animal welfare campaigners, state officials, politicians and the public.Introduction Rabies Raging: 'The Era of Canine Madness', 1830 Rabies at Bay: 'The Dog Days', 1831-1861 Rabies Resurgent: 'The Dog Plague', 1864-1879 Rabies Cured: 'The Millennium of Pasteurism', 1880-1895 Rabies Banished: Muzzling and its Discontents, 1885-1902 Rabies Excluded: Quarantines to Pet Passports, 1902-2000 Conclusion

'Rabies is both rare and highly emotive. Pemberton and Worboys use this unusual combination to produce a stunning history of the disease, in which human beings and dogs have equal parts to play. The authors offer a success story, but a peculiarly British one, in which pet lovers, antivivisectionists and individualists do battle against the State, veterinarians, and medical scientists. They show that the issues were never clear-cut, and their dispassionate analysis develops a rich and evocative narrative which is enriched by a series of brilliantly chosen illustrations. This is the social history of medicine at its very best.' - W. F. Bynum, University College London, UK

'Essential reading for anyone interested in British anxieties and preoccupations about health, dogs, class and gender domination, and the state as protector from nature's threats. This is a lively and compelling account of how Britons created different visions of rabies at different times - from the horrors of hydrophobia, through germ theories, quarantines, and Pet Passports '. - Susan D. Jones, University of Minnesota, USA

'This energetic, engaging and well-crafted study offers a textured account of professional, popular and state responses to rabies, demonstrating how dread of 'Canine Madness' lÃa