Man and Microbes: Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times

by Arno Karlen

Overview

From Simon & Schuster, Man and Microbes respected science writer Arno Karlen presents a dramatic panorama of the natural history of disease.

Man and Microbes makes clear that infection is a natural and necessary part of life. It shows how the search for food, shelter, and a safer, more prosperous life has altered the environment, changed the dance of adaptation between humans and microbes, and generated new diseases

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780684822709
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	05/22/1996
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,139,112
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Arno Chanoch Karlen was a poet, psychoanalyst, and popular science writer.

Editorial Reviews

Karlen (Napoleon's Glands) has produced a disturbing, succinct, compelling report on the current global crisis of new and resurgent diseases. Covering cholera, leprosy, cancer, AIDS, viral encephalitis, lethal Ebola fever, streptococcal ``flesh-eating'' infections and a host of other killers, he shows how the present wave of diseases arose with drastic environmental change, wars, acceleration of travel, the breakdown of public health measures, and microbial adaptation. In the book's first half, he entertainingly charts humanity's relationship with microbes, from the earliest hominids' probable encounters with bubonic plague to hunter-gatherers' comparative good health, the explosion of sickness in Bronze Age cities and the spread of infections with trade, conquest and empire. Karlen concludes that today's epidemics are part of an ancient pattern-whenever people make radical changes in their lifestyle and environment, disease flourishes. He suggests that improved surveillance could help defuse the crisis we face now. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Karlen, author of Napoleon's Glands and Other Adventures in Biohistory (LJ 8/84), focuses his attention on infectious diseases throughout history, from ancient hunter- gatherers through some of the latest headline news. Karlen provides us with both a "prequel" to Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague (LJ 9/15/94) as well as a valuable update of William H. McNeil's classic Plagues and Peoples (LJ 9/15/76). Outbreaks of new diseases, including terrifying hemorrhagic fevers lilke Ebola and Marburg viruses, and resurgent drug-resistant strains of historic killers such as tuberculosis and malaria have confounded post-World War II complacency about the end of epidemics. As Karlen points out, changes in the physical environment, technology, and lifestyle provide new opportunities for viruses and bacteria to exploit. Diseases are an inescapable part of the earth's ecology, as tenacious and adaptable as the human hosts they threaten. A fascinating and cautionary tale, Man and Microbes is recommended for most libraries.-Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida-St. Petersburg Lib.

Library Journal

YA-A very readable history of communicable diseases. Karlen thinks that, because Americans have been living in a dream world regarding the possibilities of wide-spread illness, our public health will almost inevitably be severely tested. The chapter on AIDS and other STDs, their mutations, increases, and increasing frequency alone gives one pause. For a book in which plagues and epidemics are featured in chronological order, the author does an excellent job of breaking up the recitation by placing them in the context of their times; for instance, the plague of Justinian, which began in the 6th century and lasted over 200 years (cutting the population of Europe in half), opened the way for invasions, virtually ended city life, and led to a long period of recuperation known as the Dark Ages. Only very recently have epidemics and pandemics ceased to be major players in the historical movements of the world's great civilizations. Karlen's explanation of their important role in history adds breadth to readers' knowledge of the past. An excellent research source.-Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William Public Library System VA

School Library Journal

Science writer Arno Karlen draws on case studies and tales of medical sleuthing to uncover the ills of ancient hunter-gatherers, relate the rise of diseases that came with each domesticated species, and expose the origins of modern urban epidemics. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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