Toward an Integrative Medicine Merging Alternative Therapies with Biomedicine

Baer's exciting new book chronicles the transformation of the holistic health movement as it increasingly influences the delivery of health care in America. He describes the battle for legitimacy by alternative therapeutic practitioners, and the increasing interest by the biomedical profession in the possibilities of a complementary and integrative medical system. Baer shows ironically, how the holistic movement may ultimately become more limited as it gains acceptance and is integrated into mainstream medicine.

Hans Baer is visiting senior lecturer in anthropology at the Australian National University and professor anthropology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.