Folk healing and health care practices in Britain and Ireland: Stethoscopes, wands and crystals

Abstract

Reviews the book, "Folk Healing and Health Care Practices in Britain and Ireland: Stethoscopes, Wands and Crystals" by R. Moore and S. McClean (2010). Although folk healing still stirs up suspicion among modern health care providers, nowadays there is a growing interest in the practices worldwide as consumers have become more dissatisfied with modern medical care and started to question its efficacy and appropriateness in providing sensitive care to people. The subject of this book is a timely contribution to this trend. The book will be of value to any reader who is interested in the folk healing system in Britain and Ireland. The volume is interesting and illuminating with regard to folk healing in this part of the world. Hence, the book will be of value not only to readers who are interested in folk, alternative and complementary medicine but also to those interested in biomedicine. The book is recommended to many students, teachers, researchers and lay readers in social and cultural anthropology, folklore studies, history, ethnology, ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, sociology, public health and medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)