Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine

Thoroughly enjoying this book and finding a great resource for a course I am doing

Absolutely brilliant. Very well written and thoroughly researched, Barbara really brings the colourful and historical characters of medicine to life. You don't need to be interested in herbal medicine, if you enjoy well written, historical books then you won't be disappointed. If you have an interest in how modern and herbal medicine have evolved, then you will be absolutely delighted with this book.

This book is on a list of books I have been asked to buy for a course I am taking on Medical Herbalism. I have started to read it and it is brilliant!

This is an excellent book, it is as easy to read as a novel and way more gripping and fascinating! It is highly entertaining, and very informative, would recommend it to anyone with an interest in herbs and/or an interest in medicine

Very good for my master herbalist degree. This book was an expected buy for the master herbalist course I took. It met its requirements and aims for the course.

Enjoyable read. One to keep and re read in the future.

This book is an excellent overview of the history of herbal medicine. It is easy to read making it an enjoyable book to just read.

Anyone who has an interest in the development of medicine, philosophy of healing, or the politics of who is allowed to heal and why, cannot help but be uplifted and angered by this book.Griggs is an excellent writer, and she has given a clear and sobering account of mankind's relationship with medicinal plants from pre-history. She looks at developments of a philosophy of healing, and charts the unfortunate history of conflicts between those who sought to empower their patients, and to demystify healing (often a female tradition) and those who sought to make a lot of money out of 'healing'. This latter group had a vested interest in making 'healing' something which only they could 'do' for someone else, and therefore the methods of healing had to be difficult, rare, costly - and often downright dangerous.She contrasts the philosophy of herbalists such as Nicholas Culpeper, and his use of 'simples' with apothecaries who were using a whole range of far flung exotic substances, often engaged in 'heroic' practices such as bleeding, purging, cupping etc.There is a sobering account of the outlawing of herbal treatment in this country - and of course many many parallels to be drawn between the earlier conflicts between 'wise women/'witch' herbal practitioners and 'educated' professionals with often some pretty newfangled, untried remedies - and the modern conflicts between herbal medicines and the big pharmaceutical giants.Parallels between the use of mercury and arsenic in large (not homeopathic doses) in the 17th/18th century, which often killed the patient, and, for example, unopposed oestrogen being put on the market as the absolute to be desired for menopausal women - and 10-15 years down the line, the link between ORT and endometrial cancer, anyone? Thalidomide? Valium? etc. etc.