Amalia's tale : an impoverished peasant woman, an ambitious attorney, and a fight for justice / David I. Kertzer.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 204-227) and index.

An unexpected visitor -- The fateful day -- The first signs -- Suing the count -- The mercury treatment -- The trial begins -- Disputing the doctor -- The parade of the syphilitic peasants -- The psychiatrist's attack -- The miserly syphilologist -- A new champion -- Conflicting opinions -- The tribunal decides -- Amalia's appeal -- The loan -- The counteroffensive -- Mixed news from the supreme court -- A split decision -- A staggering sum -- Amalia's lawyer submits his bill -- Lives lost and lives saved -- Aristocrats, lawyers, doctors, and peasants : Amalia looks back.

Examines a nineteenth-century court case in which attorney Augusto Barbieri took on the case of Amalia Bagnacavalli, an impoverished peasant woman from Bologna, Italy, who contracted syphilis from the sickly baby she had been forced to wet nurse.