"Another name for health": Thoreau and Modern Medicine

Branch and Peirce argue that, while the relationship between human health and ecosystemic balance is already part of scientific discourse, the current Western medical system has not given sufficient attention to the connection between human health and our dominant narratives of health. The authors bring Henry David Thoreau's writing to bear on the values of modern hospital care in the U.S. and include a brief history of hospital design to show that patients were not always isolated from natural surroundings and a healthy diet.