Main description:

This book highlights the life of Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902), a 19th-century Renaissance man, physician, academic, writer, biologist, scientist, anthropologist, politician, and public health advocate and leading figure in the medical, political and intellectual life of Germany. It provides details of his personal letters, his many innovations and discoveries, and his life in politics, all set in the context of his extraordinary time. What is perhaps most characteristic of Virchow is that he looked at life in the most microscopic detail (he was called the "Father of Pathology") and simultaneously from a much larger cultural and public health perspective. A particular fascination of this book is the role Virchow played in studying morphology and race during the time of an emergent socialist movement, rising anti-Semitism, and cultural superiority in German. The book will appeal to a global readership, including physicians, scientists, anthropologists and historians and anyone interested in 19th century medical life and racial and health equality.