The Blood of Society

The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy, by Richard M. Titmuss. New York: Pantheon Books. 339 pp.

From each according to his needs, to each according to his abilities! As Richard Titmuss makes clear, in this superb book, such is the operative principle that governs blood donorship in the United States and much of the world today. Titmuss, a major architect of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and the leading student of its health care and welf...