Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic: Voices from History

Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic: Voices from History PDF Author: Peter Furtado
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500776474
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424

Book Description
An eye-opening anthology from the bestselling editor of Histories of Nations, exploring how people around the globe have suffered and survived during plague and pandemic, from the ancient world to the present. Plague, pestilence, and pandemics have been a part of the human story from the beginning and have been reflected in art and writing at every turn. Humankind has always struggled with illness; and the experiences of different cities and countries have been compared and connected for thousands of years. Many great authors have published their eyewitness accounts and survivor stories of the great contagions of the past. When the great Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta visited Damascus in 1348 during the great plague, which went on to kill half of the population, he wrote about everything he saw. He reported, "God lightened their affliction; for the number of deaths in a single day at Damascus did not attain 2,000, while in Cairo it reached the figure of 24,000 a day." From the plagues of ancient Egypt recorded in Genesis to those like the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, and from the Spanish flu of 1918 to the Covid-19 pandemic in our own century, this anthology contains fascinating accounts. Editor Peter Furtado places the human experience at the center of these stories, understanding that the way people have responded to disease crises over the centuries holds up a mirror to our own actions and experiences. Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic includes writing from around the world and highlights the shared emotional responses to pandemics: from rage, despair, dark humor, and heartbreak, to finally, hope that it may all be over. By connecting these moments in history, this book places our own reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic within the longer human story.

Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic

Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic PDF Author: Peter Furtado
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500296138
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An eye-opening anthology from the bestselling editor of Histories of Nations, exploring how people around the globe have suffered and survived during plague and pandemic, from the ancient world to the present. Plague, pestilence, and pandemics have been a part of the human story from the beginning and have been reflected in art and writing at every turn. Humankind has always struggled with illness; and the experiences of different cities and countries have been compared and connected for thousands of years. Many great authors have published their eyewitness accounts and survivor stories of the great contagions of the past. When the great Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta visited Damascus in 1348 during the great plague, which went on to kill half of the population, he wrote about everything he saw. He reported, "God lightened their affliction; for the number of deaths in a single day at Damascus did not attain 2,000, while in Cairo it reached the figure of 24,000 a day." From the plagues of ancient Egypt recorded in Genesis to those like the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, and from the Spanish flu of 1918 to the Covid-19 pandemic in our own century, this anthology contains fascinating accounts. Editor Peter Furtado places the human experience at the center of these stories, understanding that the way people have responded to disease crises over the centuries holds up a mirror to our own actions and experiences. Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic includes writing from around the world and highlights the shared emotional responses to pandemics: from rage, despair, dark humor, and heartbreak, to finally, hope that it may all be over. By connecting these moments in history, this book places our own reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic within the longer human story.

Plague

Plague PDF Author: Ben Hubbard
Publisher: Franklin Watts
ISBN: 9781445179605
Category : COVID-19 (Disease)
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Book Description
This book examines history's most destructive pandemics including The Black Death (Bubonic Plague); The Great Plague of London, the 1918 Spanish Flu, HIV/AIDS and more. It uses a narrative structure to describe the causes, events and eventual cessation of each outbreak. It features case stories of those affected, the science behind each disease, the physical symptoms and effects, and the different approaches to stopping or eradicating the diseases. This is a highly topical book that addresses the outbreak of COVID-19. It offers a message of hope to those worried or affected by COVID-19. That is, that pandemics come and go, people have survived through them, and with each one our understanding of how to slow or stop them increases. The book features illustrations and etchings from the Middle Ages and photographs from pandemics later in history.

Epidemics and Ideas

Epidemics and Ideas PDF Author: Terence Ranger
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521558310
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
From plague to AIDS, epidemics have been the most spectacular diseases to afflict human societies. This volume examines the way in which these great crises have influenced ideas, how they have helped to shape theological, political and social thought, and how they have been interpreted and understood in the intellectual context of their time.

Armies of Pestilence

Armies of Pestilence PDF Author: R. S. Bray
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN:
Category : Diseases
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Disease has had a marked effect on history in various ways. Only in recent years have historians begun to study the subject, and this book offers both a contribution to this area of research and an evaluation of other literature on the impact of pandemics on human history.

Plagues in World History

Plagues in World History PDF Author: John Aberth
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442207967
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Plagues in World History provides a concise, comparative world history of catastrophic infectious diseases, including plague, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, influenza, and AIDS. John Aberth considers not only their varied impact but also the many ways in which people have been able to influence diseases simply through their cultural attitudes. Our ability to alter disease, even without modern medical treatments, is even more crucial lesson now that AIDS, swine flu, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and other seemingly incurable illnesses have raged worldwide. The author's comparative analysis of how different societies have responded in the past to disease illuminates what cultural approaches have been and may continue to be most effective in combating the plagues of today.

Plague and Pestilence

Plague and Pestilence PDF Author: Linda Jacobs Altman
Publisher: Enslow Publishers
ISBN: 9780894909573
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Book Description
Plagues have afflicted humankind throughout its history. From the Black Death to Ebola, author Linda Jacobs Altman traces our battles against infectious disease. Despite medical advances, the fight against these diseases is far from over.

Plagues upon the Earth

Plagues upon the Earth PDF Author: Kyle Harper
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691224722
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 704

Book Description
A sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases. Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself. Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.

Pandemics in Singapore, 1819–2022

Pandemics in Singapore, 1819–2022 PDF Author: Kah Seng Loh
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000999564
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description
Singapore has faced many pandemics over the centuries, from plague, smallpox and cholera to influenza and novel coronaviruses. By examining how different governments responded, this book considers what we can learn from their experiences. Public health strategies in the city-state were often affected by issues of ethnicity and class, as well as failure to take heed of key learnings from previous outbreaks. Pandemics are a recurrent and normal feature of the human experience. Alongside medical innovation and evidence-based policymaking, the study of history is also crucial in preparing for future pandemics.

The History of the World in 100 Pandemics, Plagues and Epidemics

The History of the World in 100 Pandemics, Plagues and Epidemics PDF Author: Paul Chrystal
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 139900543X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 619

Book Description
This “timely, topical, informative [and] exceptionally well written” history explores the impact of disease from prehistoric plagues to Covid-19 (Midwest Book Review). Historian Paul Chrystal charts how human civilization has grappled with successive pandemics, plagues, and epidemics across millennia. Ranging from prehistory to the present day, this volume begins by defining what constitutes a pandemic or epidemic, taking a close look at 20 historic examples: including cholera, influenza, bubonic plague, leprosy, measles, smallpox, malaria, AIDS, MERS, SARS, Zika, Ebola and, of course, Covid-19. Some less well-known, but equally significant and deadly contagions such as Legionnaires’ Disease, psittacosis, polio, the Sweat, and dancing plague, are also covered. Chrystal provides comprehensive information on each disease, including epidemiology, sources and vectors, morbidity, and mortality, as well as governmental and societal responses, and their political, legal, and scientific consequences. He sheds light on how public health crises have shaped history—particularly in the realms of medical and scientific research and vaccine development. Chrystal also examines myths about infectious diseases, and the role of the media, including social media.