The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The rise of a sovereign profession and the making of a vast industry

This Pulitzer Prize winning history of American Medicine does a lot to explain why the domain of public health is so small in the U.S., and why health in the U.S. is mostly a private, as opposed to public, matter. It takes some fortitude to get through, but it should be required reading for anyone who has ever wondered why, for better and for worse, the US is the only developed country that does not have social provision of medical care. Hint: It's not an accident. Recommended

I am on my third reading of this text and can honestly say that it stands out as being the definitive text on the history of health care delivery in this country. If you wish to understand why things are the way they are in the U.S. health care delivery system, this is where to start.