Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present ( Frank M. Snowden )

As seen on “60 Minutes”: a “brilliant and sobering” (Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal) look at the history and human costs of pandemic outbreaks
 
The World Economic Forum #1 book to read for context on the coronavirus outbreak
 
"Well-written, highly entertaining and relevant."—Financial Times, "Best Books of 2020: Readers' Choice"
 
This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today. 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.
 
About the Author
Frank M. Snowden received his B.A. from Harvard in 1968, and his B.Phil. and D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1972 and 1975. He has taught at London University from 1978 until 1991 and at Yale since 1991. His research interests include the comparative history of epidemic diseases, the history of public health, the impact of emerging and resurgent diseases, issues in medical ethics, and bioterrorism.
 
His books include  Violence and Great Estates in the South of Italy: Apulia, 1900-1922 (1984); The Fascist Revolution in Tuscany, 1919-1922 (1989); Naples in the Times of Cholera (1995) and The Conquest of Malaria: Italy, 1900-1962 (2006). Conquest was awarded the Gustav Ranis Prize from the MacMillan Center at Yale in 2007 as “the best book on an international topic by a member of the Yale Faculty,” the Helen and Howard R. Marrano Prize by the American Historical Association as the best work on Italy in any period, and the 2008 Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine.