The Conquest of Pain by Peter Fairley (1978)

How medicine learned to defeat suffering

Very Good Condition – Vintage book in very good condition with noticeable cover, edge and corner wear.

Peter Fairley traces humanity’s long struggle to understand and control physical pain, from early remedies and surgical endurance to the development of anaesthesia and modern pain relief. Blending medical history with stories of discovery, experiment and controversy, he shows how changing ideas about the body transformed treatment. The book introduces the people and breakthroughs that made once-unthinkable procedures possible while considering the continuing challenge of chronic pain. Accessible and wide-ranging, it offers a compelling history of one of medicine’s most important quests.