Posters, Protests, and Prescriptions: Cultural Histories of the National Health Service in Britain

Author/Contributor(s):	Crane, Jennifer ; Hand, Jane
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Date:	06/07/2022
Binding:	Hardcover
Condition:	NEW

The National Health Service has provided Britain's healthcare since 1948. This institution has been the subject of tense political debate since its inception and has undergone a number of complex reforms and restructures. But the meanings of the NHS are not only - or even primarily - lived out in politics. Nearly every Briton comes into contact with the NHS - from cradle to grave - and this system of healthcare shapes society, culture and everyday life. This book charts these multiple meanings, looking at the NHS as a site of work, activism and consumerism, as a space and in cultural representations. Looking in these ways, the book shows how and why the NHS has become a symbol of Britishness and an object of fierce protectiveness, even love, today.