Cylchgronau Cymru

medicine, however regulated, the state in its changing incarnations, whether at the local or the national level, and the differing role of voluntarism in health affairs. And all this in a cross-national perspective as well. I found this one of the most useful chapters in the volume, encompassing in its chronological and geographical range issues which are often the subject of separate analyses of book length. It is good to have such a succinct and authoritative resume. The book ends with an historically informed look at the future of medicine at the end of the century by Geoff Watts, the presenter of Medicine Now. This is no medical triumphalism but rather a survey of some of the technical advances, together with the question of rationing in developed countries, by contrast with, in the poorer part of the world, more attenuated access and the dilemmas of the population issue. Despite the inclusion of this chapter, there is a difficulty with the chronology of medicine and science as presented in the volume. The surveys mostly come to an abrupt halt about the middle of the twentieth century and there is little on how medicine and science have developed since then. In part this is a reflection of the historiography of the subject, which displays a surprising lack of research on the post-war period. The book also concentrates on official medicine and science without con- sideration of the complex interplay between lay and official versions of therapy and scientific thought. The numbers of 'general surveys' of the history of medicine are now proliferating, and it might well be asked what this book provides which is not already covered by others. The advantage is its chronological and geographic range, together with the wide selection of fascinating illustrations. As someone who teaches the history of medicine to non- historian postgraduate students, I can see this combination of visual stimulation and expert survey as a valuable one. VIRGINIA BERRIDGE London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine A HISTORY OF THE British Isles. By Jeremy Black. Macmillan, London, 1996. Pp.331. £ 16.99. This reviewer, who has recently attempted a similar task, knows very well how difficult it is to produce a work which covers a long period of time and is scholarly but also readable by a general audience. Professor Black himself concedes that this particular book has been both the most interesting and