Plagues and Peoples
by William McNeill
William McNeill explores the historical context of the spread and effects of various diseases, smallpox in Mexico, the bubonic plague in China, typhoid in Europe and (in a later edition) AIDS. He looks at the political, demographic, ecological and psychological impact of these diseases on societies, essentially offering a fresh interpretation of world history, viewed from the impact of disease on culture. The book was hailed as an instant classic on its publication.
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“It’s an absolutely wonderful book. It’s thought provoking, beautifully written, and has stood the test of time. McNeill is an academic historian, and he updated the book when HIV came along, so it’s reasonably up to date.” Read more...
“In describing why epidemics happen, McNeill emphasises ecology—community, sociology, travel, climate—and how this affects the spread of different infectious agents. It seems logical that the spread of infectious agents would not only depend on their infectivity but also the environment where the infectious agent first exerts its influence. He comes to the conclusion that these epidemics happen primarily because of ecological influences.McNeill wrote the original edition before HIV was discovered and I don’t think he modified the book a lot in the second edition, in which he talked about the HIV epidemic. When he addresses some of the influences that resulted in the spread of HIV, I don’t think he emphasises the influence of behaviour enough, although he does mention it. He looks upon HIV as originating from changes in ecology, that the virus could have been a recombination—which could be true—two viruses that recombine to finally become HIV. That’s one of the theories. In fact it is a worrisome theory because it would mean the HIV might recombine or mutate again to become an even more contagious or lethal virus.” Read more...
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Arthur Ammann, Medical Scientist
“In Plagues and Peoples, he showed that humans were not only vulnerable to a force of nature – disease – but that their actions and ways of life made them more so. He looks at how diseases became much more prevalent, how they spread widely.In Roman and Greek times, diseases were transported with people as they moved from one place to another. A key moment in the history of mankind is the spread of diseases across Eurasia during the Middle Ages. For me, perhaps the most important example of the spread with human interaction is the diseases that the conquistadores brought with them from Europe to Mexico. Many of the people of the Americas were wiped out by those diseases.In short, this book opened my eyes to the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.” Read more...
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Daniel Headrick, Historian
“Thirty-four years ago, William H. McNeill, AB’38, AM’39, shed new light on world history—by giving microbes their proper place in the human drama.”
"A Germ of an Idea" University of Chicago Magazine, July-August 2010
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