Patterns of disease and systems of medical knowledge and practice have varied across space and time. In addition, medicine has always been influenced by particular social, cultural, and political contexts. A Global History of Medicine explores the history of medicine across continents and countries from ancient to modern times. It examines the changing systems of medicine in both Eastern and Western traditions, compares and contrasts alternative medical practices, and introduces readers to how historians have attempted to capture the multiple approaches to healing adopted by different cultures. Written by experienced historians from around the world, the chapters collectively provide new perspectives on how to write the global history of health and medicine and indicate the ways in which medicine in the past continues to shape our present.