Publisher's Synopsis
How did anaesthesia, a crucial component of modern medicine, come to change so enormously during the twentieth century? In this study of one important and influential department, a narrative framework is used to explore key themes. Only the wealth of a millionaire overcame opposition to the creation of the Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics at Oxford in the 1930s. The struggles of the early years, and the demands of wartime contingencies, strengthened the links between research, training, and clinical services. Safe, simple anaesthesia was preached in the era of postwar expansion. In spite of a record of excellence, there were pressures to demote the Department in the 1950s. Yet it survived, to contribute to important sub-specialties of anaesthesia, and to engage in qualitatively new research. A combination of documentary and oral sources informs this original account; the final chapter is contributed by the present Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetics, M.K. Sykes, and the first Professor, Sir Robert Macintosh, has written the foreword.;Professional anaesthetists; others interested in the history of anaesthetics in the twentieth century.
