Overview

Epidemics, Endemics, and Pandemics in World History provides a comprehensive account of human interactions with diseases from the stone age to COVID-19. It takes a thematic approach, exploring the two-way relationship between pathogens and human development throughout history. This book argues that changing patterns of human activity, including the adoption of agriculture, warfare, long-distance exchange and globalization, industrialization, and imperialism created new opportunities for the proliferation of pathogens. It shows how disease threats in prehistory drove the evolution of the behavioral immune system and inspired human populations to develop disease “constructs” of culturally specific beliefs for defining, explaining, and combating dangerous diseases. The volume also explores how endemic diseases contribute to impoverishment and how poverty can be an exacerbating factor for infectious disease. With suggested readings and discussion questions, this book is a valuable tool for all students interested in the history of disease across the world including those in global health.

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9781032591599

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Author Information

Benjamin Reilly is a Teaching Professor of History and one of the founding faculty members of Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Qatar. An environmental historian, Dr. Reilly is particularly interested in how humans interact with natural processes, especially disasters and infectious diseases.

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