Naturopathy Around the World: Variations and Political Dilemmas of an Eclectic Heterdox Medical System

Abstract

Whereas various professionalized heterodox medical systems found in Western societies, such as homeopathy, chiropractic, osteopathy, Chinese traditional medicine, and even acupuncture have been the object of considerable historical and social scientific research, naturopathy has been, at best, spotty. This book constitutes the first effort to provide a broad social historical and ethonographic account, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Australia, but to a lesser extent in Germany, Britian, New Zealand and India. Naturopathy emerged in the early twentieth century under the leadership of Benedict Lust, a German immigrant to the United States who had studied under Father Kneipp (a ..