Drugging France by Sara E. Black - 9780228011644

McGill-Queen's University Press

Drugging FranceMind-Altering Medicine in the Long Nineteenth Century\nAuthor(s): Sara E. Black\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, Canada\nImprint: McGill-Queen's University Press\nISBN-13: 9780228011644, 978-0228011644\nSynopsis\nIn the nineteenth century, drug consumption permeated French society to produce a new norm: the chemical enhancement of modern life. French citizens empowered themselves by seeking pharmaceutical relief for their suffering and engaging in self-medication. Doctors and pharmacists, meanwhile, fashioned themselves as gatekeepers to these potent drugs, claiming that their expertise could shield the public from accidental harm. Despite these efforts, the unanticipated phenomenon of addiction laid bare both the embodied nature of the modern self and the inherent instability of the notions of individual free will and responsibility.\n\nDrugging France explores the history of mind-altering drugs in medical practice between 1840 and 1920,.