Despite the importance of diabetic mellitus to the 6% of Americans (or more) who live with this disease, or to the US healthcare system which treats their disease and its many complications, we do not yet have a historical account that places this aliment and the technology that has come to surround it in their evolving social, cultural, and ethical contexts. The proposed book will provide a rich historical account of the pre- and post-insulin history of type I diabetes mellitus, aiming to: describe a new paradigm of disease change, whereby medical interventions transmute acutely lethal diseases into chronic and often debilitating illnesses; adopt the """"""""patient's perspective"""""""" and analyze how this process of disease transmutation affected the lives of patients with diabetes over the course of decades; explore the social, cultural, and ethical implications of diabetes history for other areas of health and healthcare. The book will be based on a dissertation and previously-authored articles, carefully rewritten for the educated lay audience, addressing the concerns of patients and their families, practicing physicians, healthcare policy analysts, and medical historians. Not only will the book """"""""tell the story of diabetes"""""""" more accurately than any other account, it will strive to create a new perspective on the role of medical technology in our lives. If funded, I would specifically aim to complete the revision of an originally 614 page dissertation, producing a polished book manuscript of approximately 350 pages, and bringing this manuscript into print the Social Medicine series of the University of North Carolina Press early in the year 2002.
