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Dr. Alanna Skuse
Author, Academic, Historian
Dr. Alanna Skuse is a literary scholar, historian and author
with a focus on stories about medicine, bodies, and Renaissance England.
Her book, 'The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack: How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England', which tells the stories of the men and women who transformed Renaissance medicine, is out now.
Alanna teaches literature as Associate Professor at the University of Reading, UK, and has published academic books and articles on the history of cancer, surgery, disability, Shakespeare and self-harm. She also runs public history projects, and writes and broadcasts for BBC Radio, Wellcome Stories, The Conversation and History Today.​
Discover the remarkable birth of modern medicine.
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"A rollicking history of Renaissance medicine ... Skuse knocks it out of the park"
The Sunday Times
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"Fascinating...neatly captures the topsy-turvy contradictions of the era"
The Daily Mail
People in the past did not sit around and wait to die, any more than we do today. Just like us, they worried about their health, shopped around for treatment, and demanded better from their doctors and surgeons.”
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