wailoo. how do you write a political history of pain? >> guest: that's a wonderful question. so my background is as a historian of medicine and i've always been perplexed by the fact that we have such a hard time treating people in chronic pain in america. that is to say, debates about whether too much medication promotes drugging addiction how to -- drug addiction, how to measure pain is something that's not easy. but what i realized when i started to do the research on why this medicine has been controversial is how it intersects with deep and divisive issues in american society. about how you measure pain. how do you decide who's in pain and who's not. the story really becomes high hi politicized -- highly politicized way before today, it becomes politicized in the '50s when we establish b a disability provision in social security 1956 eisenhower era. and the question before physicians is, okay, we know what a disability looks like, but is pain a disability? is chronic pain something that's not easy to measure a disability that should be compensated by the federal governme

the author, princeton university professor keith wailoo.you write a political history of pain? >> guest: that's a wonderful question. so my background is as a historian of medicine and i've always been perplexed by the fact that we have such a hard time treating people in chronic pain in america. that is to say, debates about whether too much medication promotes drugging addiction how to -- drug addiction, how to measure pain is something that's not easy. but what i realized when i started to do the research on why this medicine has been controversial is how it intersects with deep and divisive issues in american society. about how you measure pain. how do you decide who's in pain and who's not. the story really becomes high hi politicized -- highly politicized way before today, it becomes politicized in the '50s when we establish b a disability provision in social security