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Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present (The Open Yale Courses Series) Paperback – Illustrated, May 1, 2020
by Frank M. Snowden (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 535 ratings
Part of: The Open Yale Courses Series (11 books)
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A “brilliant and sobering” (Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal) look at the history and human costs of pandemic outbreaks
As seen on “60 Minutes”
The World Economic Forum #1 book to read for context on the coronavirus outbreak
This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today, and in a new preface addresses the global threat of COVID-19. 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.
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Print length
608 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
“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
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.
Product details
Publisher : Yale University Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2020)
Language : English
Paperback : 608 pages
ISBN-10 : 0300256396
ISBN-13 : 978-0300256390
Item Weight : 2.03 pounds
Best Sellers Rank: #227,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#333 in History of Medicine (Books)
#398 in Public Health Administration
#1,232 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
Customer Reviews:
4.7 out of 5 stars 535 ratings
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4.7 out of 5 stars
Top reviews from the United States
EA Poe
3.0 out of 5 stars Cleanliness is next to Godliness.Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2019
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Aside from numerous factual errors, the author is such a strident social justice warrior as to make the book painfully tedious.
55 people found this helpful
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AJP
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a text outline of a course the author gave at YaleReviewed in the United States on March 20, 2020
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Quite extensive and detailed, but a bit "dry" for my taste.
While there are lots of interesting tidbits (e.g., measles was a zoonosis, rinderpest - that crossed over into humans about 800AD, and the established church slowed the elimination of rinderpest by opposing vaccination, etc).
Thorough review of epidemiology, sociology and to some extent the physiology of epidemics & plagues.
Not light reading.
48 people found this helpful
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Phebe
3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best epidemics book available in 2020Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2020
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This book tells of the effect of several important infectious illnesses on societies, and the effect of societies on these illnesses. He starts with the bubonic plague, which is the standard for epidemics in the developed world. He continues with Napoleon's loss of many hundred thousand troops returning from Moscow in the winter, many of them from typhus, a good example of war-transmitted disease. Throughout the author is unusually elaborate about history at the time of the contagion discussed, almost to obsessiveness, but it is always interesting.
I only gave three stars because the book has one serious problem: the two chapters on HIV are tendentious propaganda for political correctness, in that people who have better sense than to engage in the definite and gaudy behaviors that transmit this disease both in Africa and the developed world are for no plausible reason repeatedly blamed for the AIDS they do not contract. Otherwise I did not see a problem with left-wing PC in the rest of the book, and I may read it again, skipping those silly chapters.
The most thought-provoking idea it left me with is that populations that seem unproductive and hapless to us may simply be chronically ill with many tropical diseases: it is hard to do world-class anything if everybody has malaria all the time and other illnesses frequently. This may seem obvious when stated, but it isn't to an American population that expects health to be the last thing we have to worry about, at least it was till 2020.
What I wish the author had dwelt on more is the problem of overpopulation and Malthusian epidemics. He does touch on it several times, sometimes dramatically, as when demonstrating that unexpected outbreaks are occurring more and more frequently. This is a good book to read during the coronavirus crisis.
41 people found this helpful
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tsundra
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely well written and easy to readReviewed in the United States on May 31, 2020
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The ideas and theories and observations in this book about epidemics and society are fascinating. What a great book to read for help in understanding what we are experiencing today during the covid pandemic and concurrent surge of outrage and rioting over police brutality. It seems that hysteria (and mob violence) is a predictable historical outcome when plagues occur.
The scholarship is outstanding. Thank you to the thorough an unpretentious author.
14 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to become a classic!!Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2020
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This is an excellent book on the history of plagues and pandemics by a top expert/scholar. I am a historian myself of the medieval and early modern periods, and I believe this timely and highly relevant book will become a classic in the study of these themes and topics.
11 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars An Importand Book to Own.Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2020
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This Book is to have and Read, especially today's facing a global challenge, we all are together Globally, this book, will relax your cnsciences and accept the fact that indeed we all are together Globally.
This book, belong to any and every household,should be available in Library, in any Language possible, andin any school too.
Epidemics and Society, it is an open minded book of our Human History.
Michos Tzovaras
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Aykut Durgun
5.0 out of 5 stars Helps understanding todayReviewed in the United States on April 14, 2020
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Must to be read one
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great readReviewed in the United States on October 3, 2020
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Mr Snowden summarizes well the history of the past epidemic from Black Death to recent crisis of Ebola. He gave in depth insights into each epidemics and how we human responds and what lesson to be learnt. He pointed out important challenges for leaders around the world to consider and to act to avoid disastrous consequences from any future epidemics.
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Mrjmjefferson
2.0 out of 5 stars Does not cover coronaviruses or influenza (in latter case with a one sentence exception).Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2020
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Seeing a 2019 publication with the title: "Epidemics and Society", knowing that coronaviruses have been researched since the early 1930s and a link found between one and human illness in 1964, one might have expected coverage of this field. There is a mention of the 'Spanish' flu pandemic of 1918/1919 in the rather rambling Introduction on page 7, otherwise there is nothing of immediate relevance. The author's reasoning is that he has had to leave a lot of information out on ground of lack of space. But HIV/AIDS is allotted 40 pages. Some readers may agree with me that this space could have been split evenly with discussion of coronaviruses, the 'flu pandemics of 1957, 1968, etc..
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Olivia Wemyss Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars It’s all happened before and we’ve survivedReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2020
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Excellent and informative
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente obraReviewed in Brazil on September 30, 2020
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Infelizmente ainda não disponível em português, mas a escrita e o vocabulário do livro não são muito exigentes para quem já tem um nível intermediário de leitura em língua inglesa.
"Epidemics and Society" é um caso raro de estudo que consegue ser amplo sem ser raso. É uma obra que pretende estabelecer uma história das epidemias, mas não se furta de observar e trazer análises sociológicas, políticas, econômicas e demográficas sobre a saúde pública. O único "defeito" do autor é a abordagem predominante sobre o desenvolvimento de epidemias nos EUA e suas repercussões - ao que ele mesmo assume e justifica como um recorte necessário para que seja possível aprofundar e, por isso, usei as aspas -, mas o livro traz pontualmente alguns acontecimentos paralelos sobre as epidemias, com menções mais longas à Índia, China, Japão e aos países europeus, em especial os ocidentais, como também a história das doenças desde a Antiguidade Clássica, remetendo às civilizações do Mediterrâneo. Há um capítulo específico sobre o HIV na África do Sul, capítulo esse que, por sinal, é um dos aprofundados e tocantes sobre o estigma da doença.
Logo em suas notas iniciais, em que até comenta sobre o novo coronavírus, o autor menciona um "esquecimento das epidemias", uma espécie de amnésia que impede a realização de todas as constatações que a ciência faz durante uma crise sanitária. Com certeza, a obra de Snowden já é um passo em sentido de registrar e historiografar não apenas as doenças e suas tragédias, mas, em especial, seus esquecimentos.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Informative BookReviewed in Australia on June 28, 2020
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I recommend reading this book to everyone. It dispelled many of my misunderstandings about infectious dideases. For instance, the recent spread of Ebola in Africa was not due to the consumption of bush meat but due to the dispersal of fruit bat populations as a result of deforestation in the development of oil palm plantations. The book is by far the best account I have read concerning the history of infectious diseases.
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Hany E
4.0 out of 5 stars GoodReviewed in Canada on July 18, 2021
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Good read
