The Earthwise Herbal, Volume II: A Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants

Description

In this second "Earthwise Herbal" ('herbal', as defined by Merriam-Webster, is 'a book about plants especially with reference to their medicinal properties') Matthew Wood, an expert herbalist who has used medicinal herbs in tens of thousands of cases over a twenty-five-year career, provides detailed descriptions of New World (North American) herbs and their uses. The first volume of this two-volume set, "The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants", was published by North Atlantic Books in May 2008. Organized as a material medica (names and descriptions of herbs/plants are listed alphabetically), the book explains the use of the whole plant - not just 'active ingredients' - in the treatment of the whole person and describes symptoms and conditions that the plants have been successful in treating (digestive ailments, headaches, high blood pressure, asthma, skin rashes, and allergies, to name a few). Wood, one of very few writers who has systematically studied ancient and traditional herbal literature, rather than the occasional text, takes a historical view and presents information in a thoughtful, engaging, non-technical style. In addition, he provides remarkable case studies as well as insight into the 'logic' of each plant - its current usage, past usage, pharmacological constituents, and other elements that together produce a comprehensive portrait of the plant.

Matthew Wood, a practicing herbalist for more than twenty-five years, lives on an herb farm west of downtown Minneapolis. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and holds a Master of Science degree in Herbal Medicine from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, accredited by the University of Wales. Wood is the author of five previous books (all published by North Atlantic Books) and a registered herbalist, or professional member, of the American Herbalists Guild, the only self-regulating body of practicing herbalists in the United States. He is also on the faculty at Minneapolis Community Technical College in the Western Herbalism program.

"In The Earthwise Herbal, Matthew Wood has revived the richness, depth, and dignity of the herbal medicine of the old masters, while at the same time endowing it with a new cosmopolitan, cross-cultural flavor that lifts it to a genuinely planetary level." -Rudolph Ballentine, MD, author of Radical Healing "Matthew Wood propounds with great clarity, wisdom, and his own experience the gifts the earth in its wisdom has given us in the form of amazing medicines for almost all our ills, whether of body, mind, emotion, personality, or constitution." -Anne McIntyre, herbalist (NIMH) "Matthew Wood has put his over 25 years of experience as a practicing herbalist into the heart of this book, giving us all something worthy of study and reference, no doubt for generations to come. His understanding of the spirit of herbalism, along with his love of the craft, is contagious-I sincerely hope many people will catch a good dose of his knowledge!" -dkMommySpot "What [Matthew Wood] brings to herbalism is a first-hand sense of the old Western herbal knowledge with each plant steeped in its historic role." -The American Herb Association