The Cure Within

Anne Harrington, a historian of science at Harvard, traces how people in the West have understood the mind’s influence on the body. She follows a series of stories, from the power of suggestion and the placebo effect to stress, positive thinking and Eastern meditation, and shows how each reflects the culture that embraced it. Published in 2008, the book neither debunks mind-body medicine nor sells it, but asks why these ideas keep such a hold.