Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present

by Frank M. Snowden

Overview

As seen on “60 Minutes”: a “brilliant and sobering” (Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal) look at the history and human costs of pandemic outbreaks

The World Economic Forum #1 book to read for context on the coronavirus outbreak

"Well-written, highly entertaining and relevant."—Financial Times, "Best Books of 2020: Readers' Choice"

This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today. In a clear and accessible style, Frank M. Snowden reveals the ways that diseases have not only influenced medical science and public health, but also transformed the arts, religion, intellectual history, and warfare.
 
A multidisciplinary and comparative investigation of the medical and social history of the major epidemics, this volume touches on themes such as the evolution of medical therapy, plague literature, poverty, the environment, and mass hysteria. In addition to providing historical perspective on diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and tuberculosis, Snowden examines the fallout from recent epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola and the question of the world’s preparedness for the next generation of diseases.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300249149
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	10/22/2019
Series:	The Open Yale Courses Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Frank M. Snowden is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor Emeritus of History and History of Medicine at Yale University. His previous books include The Conquest of Malaria: Italy, 1900–1962 and Naples in the Time of Cholera, 1884–1911.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

List of Abbreviations xvii

1 Introduction 1

2 Humoral Medicine: The Legacy of Hippocrates and Galen 9

3 Overview of the Three Plague Pandemics: 541 to ca. 1950 28

4 Plague as a Disease 40

5 Responses to Plague 58

6 Smallpox before Edward Jenner 83

7 The Historical Impact of Smallpox 97

8 War and Disease: Napoleon, Yellow Fever, and the Haitian Revolution 111

9 War and Disease: Napoleon, Dysentery, and Typhus in Russia, 1812 140

10 The Paris School of Medicine 168

11 The Sanitary Movement 184

12 The Germ Theory of Disease 204

13 Cholera 233

14 Tuberculosis in the Romantic Era of Consumption 269

15 Tuberculosis in the Unromantic Era of Contagion 292

16 The Third Plague Pandemic: Hong Kong and Bombay 332

17 Malaria and Sardinia: Uses and Abuses of History 357

18 Polio and the Problem of Eradication 385

19 HIV/AIDS: An Introduction and the Case of South Africa 408

20 HIV/AIDS: The Experience of the United States 429

21 Emerging and Reemerging Diseases 448

22 Dress Rehearsals for the Twenty-First Century: SARS and Ebola 466

Notes 507

Selected Bibliography 523

Index 551

Editorial Reviews

Brilliant and sobering.”—Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal

"Snowden . . . examines the ways in which disease outbreaks have shaped politics, crushed revolutions, and entrenched racial and economic discrimination. . . . Gigantic in scope, stretching across centuries and continents, Snowden’s account seeks to explain, too, the ways in which social structures have allowed diseases to flourish."—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker

“[A] necessary and persuasive book…In an updated introduction to his book, Snowden traces a comparable arrogance in our own leaders, who have allowed global inequalities to foster the illusion that infectious diseases, old and new, are a thing of the past.”—Tim Adams, The Guardian

"Frank Snowden’s book presents a comprehensive historical perspective on societies' vulnerabilities to pandemics. The author presents these not as random events but rather endogenous: "Every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities". Pandemics help us understand societies' structures and their political priorities. A well-written, highly entertaining and relevant book."—Milton Hayek, Financial Times ‘Readers' Best Books’
 

“[A] wide-ranging study”—Laura Spinney, Nature

"Covering roughly a millennium on about 550 pages is no small task…very readable"—Christoph Gradmann, The Lancet

"Illuminating and instructive, jam-packed with fascinating details. . . . A splendid—and scary—account of a potent and still-present threat to humankind."—Glenn Altschuler, Florida Courier

"A very useful, wide-ranging review of the multiple connections between epidemic disease and historical change and development. . . . A very readable book. Highly recommended. All readers."—Choice

#1 of "5 Books to Read for Context on the Coronavirus Outbreak"—World Economic Forum

"Encyclopedic in scope, comprehensive in coverage, and highly readable, [the book] provides a kind of course of study for anyone curious to learn more about the general subject."—Peter I. Rose, Society

"Essential reading for anyone who is concerned about society’s preparedness to meet new microbial challenges and who appreciates the importance of history to develop effective and efficient responses."—Socrates Litsios, author of The Tomorrow of Malaria

“A superb synthesis of a complex and important topic. Snowden brings to the subject a wealth of previous research on disease and brilliantly integrates his work into more general historical concerns. A major achievement.”—William Bynum, author of A Little History of Science

"Professor Snowden provides an authoritative and very readable historical account of several of the major the major infectious diseases epidemics that have afflicted mankind with a focus on their impact on society."—Brian Greenwood, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

"In an era of rapidly emerging diseases, Epidemics and Society reminds us that in framing epidemics we are also, always, refiguring human life and fate in relation to ecology and society."—Warwick Anderson, author of Colonial Pathologies: American Tropical Medicine, Race, and Hygiene in the Philippines

“A distinctive and very useful contribution to the public understanding of disease."—Mark Harrison, author of Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease and Director, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine

From the Publisher