For undergraduate courses in Sociology of Health and Illness, Medical Sociology, Medical Anthropology, Urban Studies, and Nursing. This text presents a critical, holistic interpretation of health, illness, and human bodies that emphasizes power as a key social-structural factor in health and in societal responses to illness. It does not attempt to cover every relevant topic in the sociology of health and illness, but is organized as a set of core essays around which to build a course, with the expectation that instructors will assign additional readings to exemplify and develop further these important analytical themes.