The COVID-19 pandemic provides stark evidence of the importance of medicine on a global scale. However, revisiting the influenza pandemic of 1918 provided a perspective as we searched for a viable vaccine and instituted public health measures. This shows that medical knowledge is an accumulative process extending to the past and it is in the spirit of that legacy that this bibliography has been compiled. The book is a one-stop resource that cites literature related to the historical aspects of medicine. It also acknowledges medicine’s global reach and devotes significant effort in that respect. Although the online world seems to dominate on both a social and educational level, there is still a need for thoughtfully curated and focused reference works and this bibliography accomplishes that goal.

The book has 9,000+ citations. It utilizes the WHO's International classification of Diseases for the section on diseases and disorders and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Product Code Classification Database for the section on medical devices, equipment, and instruments. It includes detailed subject, geographuc, and people indexes for an easy reference.