Plagues and PeoplesThe history of disease is the history of humankind: an interpretation of the world as seen through the extraordinary impact—political, demographic, ecological, and psychological—of disease on cultures. "A book of the first importance, a truly revolutionary work." —The New Yorker From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, Plagues and Peoples is "a brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews). Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter was added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his introduction to this edition. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is essential reading—that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. |
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Africa agriculture altered America Amerindian ancient Anhui animals Asia bacillus balance became biological Black Death bubonic plague century A.D. childhood diseases China Chinese cholera Christian cities civilized climate communities crops demographic die-off disaster ecological effect Egypt eighteenth century endemic epidemic disease Epidemic in Chekiang Epidemic in Honan Epidemic in Hopei Epidemic in Kiangsu Epidemic in Shansi Epidemic in Shantung epidemiological established Eurasia Europe Europe's European exposure fact fleas History human hosts human populations humankind Hupeh immunity imperial important Indian infection infectious disease inoculation Kiangsu lands less lethal London macroparasitic malaria measles Medicine Mediterranean million modern Mongol Moslem mosquito nineteenth occurred Old World outbreaks parasites Pasteurella Pasteurella pestis patterns peasant political population growth probably provoked rats records regions remained result rodents Roman seems Shansi Sherburne F significant smallpox society sort species spread steppe survive syphilis tion tropical tuberculosis typhus urban virus yellow fever