Product Description
Diseases have significantly shaped the course of the world's history. From the fourteenth-century plague to HIV/AIDS today, diseases have fundamentally altered the shape of society, politics, and culture. In a sweeping, thoughtful account, "Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World" considers the history of twelve important diseases: their impact, their consequences, their costs, and the lessons learned. Examining hemophilia, blight, tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox, bubonic plague, influenza, malaria, yellow fever, syphilis, porphyria, and AIDS, this book not only covers the diseases' histories but also addresses public health responses and societal upheavals. Historical perspectives on these diseases will be indispensable for a better understanding of how we and our forebears survived the onslaught of 'plagues' and how we might avoid their devastating consequences in the future. Crucial to this examination is exploring how past experience can help us to deal effectively with 'coming plagues'. Whether attempts to control outbreaks were successful or not, lessons can be learned that are crucial for disease containment today. Most significantly, this book explains the lessons learned from attempts to contain past disease outbreaks and how that knowledge can be utilized in the future. Despite the challenges that a major epidemic presents, "Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World" also details various past successes in which diseases were brought under control and social disorder was minimized. The book chronicles the ways disease outbreaks shaped traditions and institutions of Western civilization; explains the effects, causes, and outcomes from past epidemics; describes a dozen diseases to show how disease control either was achieved or failed; makes clear the interrelationship between diseases and history; presents material in a compelling, clear, and jargon-free prose for a wide audience; and, provides a picture of the best practices for dealing with disease outbreaks.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 2 reviews)

Hit and miss by DrPig39 (Hong Kong)

3 Stars
November 17, 2009
I ordered this book from the local distributor at a symposium on infectious diseases after I quickly skimmed through it. Superficially, it looked interesting and comprehensive. However, after reading it thoroughly I came away rather disappointed. I would not query Sherman's selection of diseases (porphyria/hemophilia, cholera, potato blight, malaria, syphilis, TB, smallpox, black death, yellow fever, influenza, AIDS) as comprehensively covering both the range of pathogens (from fungus to bacteria to virus) and the mode of transmission (inherited, airborne/ droplet, water-borne, STD, vector-borne) that have influenced human activity for the past several centuries. Rather, the problem is with the depth of discussion and the presumed audience. Each disease has a chapter devoted to it and begins with a potted history including origins, pathogenesis, mode of transmission, treatment and control, and how these have changed over time as new knowledge is discovered. So far, so good. However, closer inspection reveals that each history is culled from a handful of sources - invariably including the author's previous book "The Power of Plagues". There are no references cited in the text in any of the chapters making it difficult to verify or follow-up facts or interesting points oneself. At the end of the book there is a chapter-by-chapter bibliography revealing the paucity of information the author has used in compiling the book. The discussion and consequences of each disease discussed at the end of each chapter are also rather disappointing. Obvious points are laboured - more laboratory studies, more health promotion and education are called for; while more subtle points - e.g. cultural/societal factors affecting disease spread and control are skimmed over. In summary, this book falls between two stools - far too simplistic for an academic audience and rather too advanced for the layman (despite the author frequently resorting to everyday analogies to describe complex biological events).

Twelve Diseases that changed the World by Susanna Shaw (Upper Midwest)

4 Stars
September 03, 2009
Well written with interesting historical background(during the potato famine more than 50% of the Irish immigrants died sailing to US and Canada) as well as scientific information,(names of organisms and growth factors).

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