A Short History of the Gout and the Rheumatic Diseases

A Short History of the Gout and the Rheumatic Diseases by W. S. C. Copeman offers the first full historical account of an ailment long caricatured in art and satire but dreaded by its sufferers. For centuries gout was seen as a disease of privilege, afflicting statesmen and generals at decisive moments, with consequences that could ripple across nations. Copeman traces the condition’s deep lineage from classical antiquity, when effective remedies were first discovered and then lost, through centuries when even the wealthiest endured valueless therapies. Along the way, the book documents how medical philosophies shifted from superstition to science, and how the peculiar association of gout with the wealthy helped ensure that its social and political significance was unusually well recorded.

Drawing on his expertise as a leading rheumatologist, Copeman not only recounts the medical history of gout but also situates it within broader cultural and historical contexts. Originating as a series of lectures at UCLA in 1962, the work expands to encompass gout’s “sisters”—rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and related complaints—what he terms the full “court” of this excruciating realm. Copeman shows how the disease shaped councils of state, literature, art, and even early American medicine, where remedies ranged from colchicum to bear fat. He also underscores the staggering modern toll of rheumatic diseases, measured in human suffering, lost productivity, and wasted resources on quack cures. With erudition and wit, Copeman demonstrates how illness, too often overlooked by historians, has profoundly influenced the course of civilization. This volume remains a landmark study of how one disease—and its many kin—bridges the history of medicine and the history of society.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1964.