This history of Accident and Emergency Medicine is a must read for all who are committed to a career in Emergency Medicine. Henry Guly has produced a well-researched history of our specialty since 1948. He shows how the needs of patients and the foresight of Emergency Medicine pioneers led to the development of our specialty despite rigidity of thought by others.

Guly makes clear that as a speciality “of time and place” we are the experts in providing the initial management of trauma and the seriously ill. The first two chapters show how the Platt Report was a forerunner to the Bruce Report of 1971, which resulted in the first 30 Consultant appointments in Accident and Emergency Medicine. This built on the pioneering work …