Traditionally the history of biomedicine has been written as a celebratory story of progress, and this is how it is still predominantly represented in mainstream media and perceived by the majority of the population. Over the past three to four decades, in the wake of the anti-authoritarianism of the 1960s, and drawing on new approaches in the social sciences, a new historiography has emerged, which has critically assessed the fundamental assumptions and beliefs behind biomedicine. In this talk I will be drawing on my research on the his
