Vincent M. Figueredo has been a practicing cardiologist and physician-scientist for thirty years. His experience spans academic medicine, medical research, teaching, private practice, and senior hospital administration, including as chair of cardiology and professor of medicine. Figueredo's research interests include how the heart responds to injury, alcohol, and stress.

Introduction
Part I: The Ancient Heart
1. The Heart Means Life
2. Heart and Soul
3. The Heart and God
4. An Emotional Heart
5. Ancient Understanding of the Physical Heart
6. Ancient Heart Disease
Part II: The Heart Goes Into the Darkness and Comes Out in the Light
7. The Dark Ages
8. The Islamic Golden Age
9. The Viking Cold Hjarta
10. American Heart Sacrifice
11. The Heart Renaissance
12. Hither and Thither
Part III: heART
13. The Heart in Art
14. The Heart in Literature
15. The Heart in Music
16. Heart Rituals
Part IV: Heart 101
17. The Pump
18. Heart Anatomy
19. Heart Sounds
20. The Color of Blood
21. The Heart's Electrical System
22. What Is an EKG?
23. What Is Blood Pressure?
24. What Is Heart Failure?
25. What Is "Having a Coronary"
26. Sex, Race, and Ethnicity in Heart Disease
27. Sudden Death of an Athlete
28. The Word "Heart"
Part V: The Modern Heart
29. Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution
30. The Twentieth Century and Heart Disease
31. Aspirin
32. The Twentieth Century and Heart Surgery
33. The Heart Now
34. Broken Heart Syndrome
35. The Heart-Brain Connection
36. The Future Heart
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Further Reading
Index