Christopher Lawrence's critical overview of medicine's place in the development of modern Britain examines the significance of the clinical encounter in contemporary society. Medicine in the Making of Modern Britain, the first short synoptic study of its kind, breaks new ground by bringing together specialized scholarship into a broad argument. Lawrence shows how the medical profession created a very specific role for itself and relates this role to the general social policy of the times. Medicine in the Making of Modern Britain will be of interest to a broad audience in a variety of disciplines.