Between Flesh and Steel
A History of Military Medicine from the Middle Ages to the War in Afghanistan
RICHARD A. GABRIEL is a distinguished professor in the Department of History and War Studies at the Royal Military College of
Canada and in the Department of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. He is a former U.S. Army officer and the author of more than forty books including many with Potomac
Books: Scipio Africanus, Thutmose III, Philip II of Macedonia, Hannibal, and Man and Wound in the Ancient World. He lives
in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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Hardcover: 320 pages
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Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (January 2013)
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Language: English
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ISBN-13: 978-1612344201
Over the last five centuries, the development of modern weapons and warfare has
created an entirely new set of challenges for practitioners in the field of military
medicine. Between Flesh and Steel traces the historical development of
military medicine from the Middle Ages to modern times. Military historian Richard A. Gabriel focuses on three key elements: the modifications in warfare and weapons whose
increased killing power radically changed the medical challenges that battle surgeons faced in dealing with casualties; advancements in medical techniques that increased the
effectiveness of military medical care; and changes that finally brought about the establishment of military medical care system in modern times. Others topics include the rise of
the military surgeon, the invention of anesthesia, and the emergence of such critical disciplines as military psychiatry and bacteriology. The approachis chronological—century by
century and war by war, including Iraq and Afghanistan—andcross-cultural in that it examines developments in all of the major armies of the West:British, French, Russian, German, and
American. Between Flesh and Steel is the most comprehensive book on the market about the evolution of modern military medicine.