The Death of the Clinic: Benoît Loiseau

Author of groundbreaking non-fiction title in conversation with Claire Carroll. One of this autumn's non-fiction highlights is Benoît Loiseau's groundbreaking cultural history/memoir crossover, The Death of the Clinic: Radical Experiments in the Art of Medicine. A mixture of history and memoir, The Death of the Clinic, is an examination of five experimental clinics which emerged in response to seismic changes and events. These include a post Second World War institute of psychiatry and medical philosophy in a French château; a feminist health centre born from the women's liberation movement in Geneva; and a grassroots research initiative featuring clinical trials run by and for people with AIDS in 1980s-90s New York. But at its core, the book also sets out to tell the stories of the individuals who dared to reimagine how humans might care for one another. It is also very personal. Loiseau recounts his own experiences with medical care and describes the influence of one key health worker, in particular: his mother. The book includes several moving 'epistles' written directly to her.