Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #348381 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
A distinguished historian probes the critical impact of infectious diseases on the development of world civilizations.

Customer Reviews

Intriguing theory about the influence of plagues on history
Men and infectious organisms have long had an uneasy relationship: diseases like smallpox, the plague, measles and in more recent years influenza have carried off huge percentages of the population when they met a new population with no immunity. After 5 to 6 generations the grown-up population had developed enough immunity to turn the dreaded disease into a childhood affliction.

William McNeill reasons in this book that for full-blown plagues to occur one needs large groups of people, such as cities and he theorizes about the influence that micro-organisms and plagues may have had on such diverse historical events as the development of civilization in China, the downfall of the Roman empire, the origin of the Renaissance, the conquest of the Americas and the industrial revolution.

Even though definite proof is often lacking, the reasoning at most times is quite convincing even though it may be somewhat simplified here and there. The original version of this book dates from 1976 but is still very valid for our days. It is a shame that in the 1998 preface the author does not mention that diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, which are in the original text described as disease that have been fought successfully, are very much on the rise again and nowadays form the part of the "big three" of most lethal infectious diseases together with HIV/AIDS.

An Awesome piece of research
After having a 1st Edition of this splendid piece of academic research which I treasured, like a twit, I lost it ... Doh (:lol:) Thankfully I now have another copy which is an essential tome in my personal library - Others are available for you too, dear reader, used, but in good condition, and at very reasonable prices. I have never found anything quite like it, and it forms the basis for my knowledge and understanding of this often gruesome, but nevertheless crucial aspect of History. It should be on every Reading List for the academic and casual study of History, if it is not already so?