MAKING PUBLIC HEALTH HISTORY USEABLE

In this issue, we launch a new series on public health history overseen by Virginia Berridge, Professor of History at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In an Editorial to launch the series, linked with a paper by John Welshman, Berridge outlines the case for more interaction between historians and public health professionals. In drawing attention to the shortcomings of the traditional hagiographic use of history, Berridge goes on to outline important ways in which an understanding of the interrelationships between history and contemporary practice can enrich both. In the first paper in the series, John Welshman takes issue with the historical interpretation of human motivation and agency, which has underpinned the work of Julian Le Grande and the “choice agenda” which is such a controversial aspect of …