History: plagues, diseases, famines Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Enlightening. . . . [Elliott] expertly draws on trace evidence such as census records, real estate contracts, and paleoclimate research to make his case. It’s an informative history that serves to encourage better pandemic preparedness today." * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A New Statesman Essential Non-Fiction Book of 2021""Winner of the PROSE Award in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Association of American Publishers""A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""[A] superb new history of infectious disease. Be so grateful you live now!"---David Frum"Magisterial. . . . [Harper’s] mastery of the science is only matched by the ease of his prose. If I were to nominate a book of the year, it would be this one."---Andrew Sullivan, The Dishcast"[A] sweeping masterpiece. . . . It’s difficult for me to think of anyone who will not find something eye-opening and enlightening in the pages of this comprehensive, beautifully written and eloquent book." * Forbes *"Plagues upon the Earth is a remarkable achievement."---Talha Burki, The Lancet"This magnificent book stood out as much for its nuance and academic rigour as it did for its readability." * Inquisitive Biologist *"An ambitious, engaging, and unified history of humanity’s interaction with infectious disease."---Gregory J. Morgan, Science"By integrating history, demography, economics, evolutionary biology and genomics into a seamless narrative, [Harper] does something that I, for one, have never seen before done so eloquently or persuasively: he demonstrates that any thorough understanding of health requires the kind of sweeping perspective that the humanities offers."---Steve Mintz, Inside Higher Ed"Comprehensive."---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution"A remarkable accomplishment that weaves together microbiology, history, and economics to understand the role of diseases in shaping human history. Harper, an established historian known for his first three books on Rome and late antiquity, has an impressive command of virology, bacteriology, and parasitology as well as history and economics. In 'Plagues Upon the Earth.' he explains all of these clearly and with many arresting turns of phrase and insights."---Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution"Well-conceived. … [Kyle] Harper combs through the literature of history, economics, epidemiology, and other disciplines to deliver a solid study of the role of infectious disease in the human story. ... Harper’s long-view study is a welcome addition to the spate of recent books on epidemic disease." * Kirkus Reviews *"This is a solid book, superbly referenced and interdisciplinary, covering disease from pre-human origins to the present, and making extensive use of published DNA comparisons and descriptions of plagues by historical observers." * Choice *"Completing the reading of this book leaves one with more than a feeling of satisfaction. Admiration for a major task that was written in an engaging style that retains a facile elegance throughout its 700 pages, that presents comprehensive and detailed information as though it were the sort of material that readers come across every day, is what one might not expect, but welcomes, in a serious work of this size."---Ian Lipke, Queensland Reviewers Collective"This timely work is the book of extraordinary brilliance and scope and the most significant in the field since William McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples from the mid-1970s."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer"Magisterial." * Prospect *"Plagues Upon the Earth is a highly provoking and enjoyable read. It shows that our success as a species is equally paralleled to the success of pathogens"---Makayla Alderson Fox, World History Encyclopedia

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Book SynopsisA compelling history of the Black Death that scoured Europe in the mid 14th-century killing twenty-five million people. It was one of the worst human disasters in history.The bodies were sparsely covered that the dogs dragged them forth and devoured themAnd believing it to be the end of the world, no one wept for the dead, for all expected to die.' Agnolo di Turo, Siena, 1348In just over a thousand days from 1347 to 1351 the ''Black Death'' travelled across medieval Europe killing thirty per cent of its population. It was a catastrophe that touched the lives of every individual on the continent. The deadly Y. Pestis virus entered Europe in October 1347 by Genoese galley at Messina, Sicily. In the spring of 1348 it was devastating the cities of central Italy, by June 1348 it had reached France and Spain, and by August England. At St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, an anonymous hand carved the following inscription for 1349: Wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the peoplTrade Review‘Kelly is a fair-minded and reliable guide, with a gift for providing racy and vivid background for those who know nothing of the Middle Ages.’ Independent on Sunday ‘There has never been a better researched, better written or more engaging account of the worst epidemic the world has ever known than this.’ Simon Winchester, author of ‘The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa’ ‘Kelly approaches the story of the greatest tragedy in history like a forensic detective who must first recreate the life of the victims before examining their deaths. While writing with a keen eye for the telling details of the past, Kelly’s book might also be a warning about our own future.’ Jack Weatherford, author of ‘Genghis Khan’

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding how Covid-19 started is more important than we know for the future of humankind.Determining whether thevirus came from nature or from a lab will help us to safeguard against the next pandemic.This disease will forever punctuate modern history. It has led to the deaths of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and affected the lives of almost every person on the planet. We now know that Covid is here to stay.Genetic engineering expert Dr Alina Chan and renowned science writer Matt Ridley examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, using their formidable skills to scrutinise arguments and rigorously analyse the sprawling data.Viralis a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientificpapers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover.Science has made great strides over the last decades. Chan and Trade Review‘The result is a viral whodunnit that is sure to appeal to armchair detectives’ Mark Honigsbaum, the Observer ‘The book collates a series of circumstantial but damning points in favour of the lab-leak hypothesis. It opens with a cloak-and-dagger scene of a BBC reporter trying to reach a mine in Mojiang, a rural area in southwest China… The book has dozens of tantalising facts … The book, fairly, does not conclude that the lab leak hypothesis is definitely true, merely that it is highly possible, and I agree… I hope the questions that Chan and Ridley raise are answered more fully, one way or another’ Tom Chivers, The Times Praise for Dr Alina Chan: ‘Both journalists and armchair detectives interested in the mystery of the coronavirus were discovering Chan as a kind of Holmes to our Watson. She crunched information at twice our speed, zeroing in on small details we’d overlooked, and became a go-to for anyone looking for spin-free explications of the latest science on Covid-19’ Rowan Jacobsen, Boston Magazine ‘Here was an actual scientist at America’s biggest gene centre who was explaining why the official story might be wrong’ Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review Praise for Matt Ridley: ‘What a superb writer he is, and he seems to get better and better' Richard Dawkins ‘[Genome is] a dazzling work of popular science, offering clarity and inspiration’ Guardian ‘[How Innovation Works] ranges from the truly profound to the merely fascinating’ Steven Pinker

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Book SynopsisThe riveting, powerful and profoundly moving story of the AIDS epidemic.Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionWinner of The Green Carnation Prize for LGBTQ literatureWinner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT non-fictionShortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2017How to Survive a Plague by David France is a social and scientific history of AIDS, and the grass-roots movement of activists, many of them facing their own life-or-death struggles, who grabbed the reins of scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Around the globe, the 15.8 million people taking anti-AIDS drugs today are alive thanks to their efforts.Not since the publication of Randy Shilts's now classic And the Band Played On in 1987 has a book sought to measure the AIDS plague in such brutally human, intimate, and soaring terms.Weaving together the stories of dozens of individuals, this is an insider's account of a pivotal moment in our history and one that changed the way that medical science is practised worldwide.'This superbly written chronicle will stand as a towering work in its field' - Sunday Times'Inspiring, uplifting and necessary reading' - Steve Silberman author of Neurotribes, Financial TimesTrade ReviewHow to Survive a Plague is epoch-making: the whole social and scientific history of AIDS, brilliantly told. Informative, entertaining, suspenseful, moving, and personal. -- Edmund WhiteAs one generation grows up with the misconception that AIDS is nothing more than a manageable illness, another grows old with the fear that the epidemic's early days will disappear into the fog of history. How to Survive a Plague is the book for both generations. France has pulled off the seemingly impossible here, invoking the terror and confusion of those dark times while simultaneously providing a clear-eyed timeline of the epidemic's emergence and the disparate, often dissonant forces that emerged to fight it. -- Dale PeckHeroic and heartbreaking and magnificent history throughout, How to Survive a Plague is one of the great tales of our time: the story of incredibly brave and determined men and women who defied government, the pharmaceutical industry, vicious homophobia, and the death sentence of AIDS to overwhelm an awful scourge. -- Carl BernsteinThis is a masterpiece of intimate storytelling with moral purpose, a contemplation not so only of an epidemic of illness but also of an epidemic of resilience. It's a book about courage and kindness and anger and joy, written with fierce, passionate intensity and utter conviction. -- Andrew SolomonHow to Survive a Plague is both a great and an important book, and we owe David France an enormous debt of gratitude for writing it. At once global and achingly intimate, his story provokes righteous rage, despair, the blackest of humor, heartbreak and, finally, blessedly, hard-won hope . . . for all of us. You will not soon forget these smart, courageous, dying young men. In fact, let's call them heroes, since they were. -- Richard RussoDavid France is uniquely positioned to bear witness to the science and politics of the AIDS epidemic, its deeply personal impact, and the activists who refused to be silenced by it: courageous and brilliant, often selfless, willing to fight even as they struggle with death, but always fully human. From the story's beginning, France was on the ground doing hard-hitting reporting on the plague while living its toll in the most intimate of ways. How to Survive a Plague is a definitive, long-awaited and essential account of the plague years - haunting and hopeful, devastating and uplifting. Incredibly important. -- Rebecca Skloot

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Spectator Book of the Year""A Prospect Best History Book of the Year""A FiveBooks Best Economic History Book of the Year""Finalist for the PROSE Award in European History, Association of American Publishers""Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize""An Australian Most Anticipated Book""A fantastic display of scholarship."---Talha Burki, The Lancet"[A] sweeping revisionist history. . . . Rich in erudition and startling new insights, this fresh look at the impact of the Black Death upon world history is a must for history lovers and plague aficionados alike." * Library Journal *"A provocative and impressive history of an earth-shattering event." * Publishers Weekly *"[A] bold, tremendously researched work."---Jordan Michael Smith, Undark"The World the Plague Made is worth reading simply as a narrative of these extraordinary events by a historian who combines command of detail with a grandiose vision of factors driving human expansion. Belich is sweeping in his range, provocative in his assertions and ambitious in his conceptions. His writing is full of colourful metaphors, unexpected turns of phrase and elegant put-downs of the many scholars who lack the imagination to share his insights."---Jonathan Sumption, Literary Review"Sweeping, ambitious."---Peter Frankopan, The Spectator"There is much to learn from this carefully considered book."---Peter Sarris, The Critic"The World the Plague Made convincingly demonstrates that the Black Death influenced many aspects of human life. In short, it is global history."---Okori Uneke, International Social Science Review"Belich draws on a vast array of bang-up-to-date material with the latest historical research, from plague pathogens to the role of war in centralising the early modern and modern state. The ride is a provocative and often exhilarating one. . . . Belich asks profound questions and does so with considerable elan."---Peter Frankopan, Prospect"Terribly interesting and educational. . . . [A] fascinating book. It obviously comes recommended to students of the history of infectious disease, but also to readers receptive to the idea that history can be decisively shaped by curveballs thrown by nature."---Leon Vlieger, Inquisitive Biologist"Packed with extensive and detailed information. . . .The World the Plague Made is a monumental book that will be required reading for anyone interested in the transition to modernity and it offers much food for thought about the methodology of ‘global history’ and history over a longue durée."---Justine Firnhaber-Baker, History Today"Deeply-researched and erudite."---Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel"James Belich is one of our absolutely necessary historians; his lens is wide as the world itself."---Geordie Williamson, The Australian

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary worlds created in our mindsTrade Review‘A varied and thought-provoking journey.’ -- The Times‘Fascinating and compassionate.’ -- Horatio Clare, author of Heavy Light‘Riveting case histories grounded in context and narrated with novelistic verve and impressive authority.’ -- Julie Kavanagh, author of The Irish Assassins‘An utterly engrossing book. It reaches through layers of mania and the distance of centuries to connect you completely to its subjects, such that you miss them when they're gone.’ -- Zoe Williams‘Meticulously researched… this is a good time to take delusions seriously.’ -- Daily Express'A humane and thoughtful account.' -- Washington Post‘This absorbing study… Shepherd goes beyond formal, detached accounts by physicians, trying instead to get a glimpse of whole human beings whose lives unravelled through trauma into delusional thinking… a humane, attentive exploration of locked-in worlds inhabited by people whose mental certainties could be both comforting and terrifying.’ -- BBC History Magazine‘A timely reminder that nothing is new, just how we deal with it. Shepherd's evocative descriptions take you from seventeenth-century Oxford to twentieth-century Paris with detail as rich as the stories she uncovers. Thought-provoking as well as deeply informative.’ -- Annie Gray, author of Victory in the Kitchen‘Each chapter opens with a compelling portrait of someone whose life was consumed, even destroyed, by a false idea… Poignant... By looking back on historical examples of the phenomenon, Shepherd shows both the mistakes and triumphs of the past, which should inform more compassionate, dignified treatment of the mentally ill in the future. From fourteenth-century England to twentieth-century France, A History of Delusions examines the thin, blurry line between sanity and insanity.’ * Foreword Reviews *‘In this bewitching debut, Shepherd adapts her BBC Radio 4 series of the same name, providing a delightfully strange account of delusions… Reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, Shepherd opts for empathy over prurience, highlighting the humanity of her subjects and lucidly drawing out the dream logic by which their delusions operate. This is a wondrous reminder of the intricacy and paradox of the human mind.’ -- Publishers Weekly, Books of the Week‘Fascinating and bizarre, these thoughtful case studies serve as escape hatches into the past, revealing the historical preoccupations that may have given rise to these delusions.’ * Publishers Weekly, Summer Reads 2022 *‘Confidently and pacily, and with an intimate tone driven by the book’s incarnation as a BBC Radio 4 series, Shepherd unpacks each case story to identify the reasons behind the purported loss of reason… Through these histories Shepherd aims to build our own connection with, and understanding of, people whose delusions may on first encounter seem bizarre: through the stories they tell themselves, they perhaps tell us – at a time that often seems out of joint, even deranged – about the stories we tell ourselves.’ -- Dr Philip Sidney, Catholic Herald‘A compelling series of individual case studies… fascinating… Shepherd is an excellent guide, offering concise accounts of specific diagnoses and a particularly absorbing account of the work of French asylum doctor Philippe Pinel… we close the book convinced of her central message: delusions are not signs of madness, but “important and compelling” phenomena.’ -- Fortean Times

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Book SynopsisIncludes 36 chapters that deploy interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of the mutual relationship between pandemics and the built environment. The chapters share the story of a pandemic in a particular city or region from five continents, and are organized in four sections to convey the mechanisms of change that affect vulnerabilities and responses to epidemic illnesses: 'Urban Governance', 'Urban Life', 'Urban Infrastructure' and 'Urban Design and Planning'. Two prominent scholars from the disciplines of public health and medical anthropology provide a prologue and epilogue: Sandro Galea writes on 'Pandemics and urban health', and Richard J. Jackson on 'Urbanism and architecture in the post-COVID era'. The contributors to this new study are historians, public health experts, art and architectural historians, sociologists, anthropologists, doctors and nurses. In researching their contributions, all have spoken to an audience that includes the public, practitioners and academic readers; the resultant case studies reveal a diverse range of urban interventions that are connected to the impact of epidemics on society and urban life, as well as the conceptualization of and response to disease. Epidemic illnesses – not only a product of biology, but also social and cultural phenomena – are as old as cities themselves. The recent pandemic has put into perspective the impact of epidemic illness on urban life and exposed the vulnerabilities of the societies it ravages as much as the bodies it infects. How can epidemics help us understand urban environments? How might insights from the outbreak and responses to previous urban epidemics inform our understanding of the current world? With these questions in mind, this book gathers scholarship from a range of disciplines to present case studies from across the globe, each demonstrating how cities in particular are not just the primary place of exposure and quarantine, but also the site and instrument of intervention. This book seeks to explore the profound and complex ways that architecture and landscape design were impacted by historical epidemics around the world, from North America to Africa and Australia, and to convey this information in a way that meaningfully engages a public readership. The chapters analyse the development of urban infrastructure, institutions and spaces in western and eastern societies in response to historical pandemics. They also demonstrate how epidemic illnesses, and their responses, exploit and amplify social inequality in the urban contexts and communities they impact.Trade Review'This is a brilliantly conceived, ground breaking collection that provides deep insight into the challenges that COVID poses to our world today. By focusing on the physical environment, these studies of past pandemics demonstrate how critical it is to tend to both neglected infrastructure and vulnerable communities. Epidemic Urbanism is an inspiring example of interdisciplinary collaboration across diverse times and places and the contributions it brings to the work of global public health.' Nancy Tomes, Distinguished Professor, Stony Brook University, USA -- Nancy Tomes“Epidemic Urbanism recounts the fascinating history of cities and plagues to shed light on present and future challenges. For hundreds of years, cities have played a central role in the spread, inequality, and containment of epidemics and pandemics. Why would COVID-19 be any different? Public health strategy is most effective when based on data, aligned with communities, and informed by the triumphs and failures of the past. This book is essential reading for the work of preparing for our next great infectious disease challenge.” Joshua M. Sharfstein, Professor and Vice Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA -- Joshua Sharfstein“As sports stadia and conference centres have transformed themselves into impromptu healthcare facilities and makeshift morgues, Epidemic Urbanism could not be timelier. Ranging from Agra in the 1610s to Sao Paulo in the 1970s, its studies of particular, historical outbreaks add up to a global account of how disease has affected cities and cities have affected disease. Drawing from specialists across a range of disciplines, Gharipour and DeClercq’s urgent collection draws from the past to point the way to the future. As Governments exhort and promise to ‘Build Back Better’, Epidemic Urbanism tellingly reminds us how such policies need to be informed by historical understanding and based around shared equity.” Ross MacFarlane, Research Development Specialist, The Wellcome Collection, UK -- Ross MacFarlane“The dynamic interplay of contagious illness and the built environment is a long and global story, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Epidemic Urbanism is an epic collection amplifying this theme, beautifully conceived and organized in a clear, orderly format (context-case study-conclusion). Its main intention is to inspire action, anticipating future historical studies and pandemics. Instructive examples take us around the world to see how illnesses have been managed and mis-managed by city dwellers.” Annmarie Adams, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Canada -- Annmarie AdamsTable of ContentsPreface – Mohammad Gharipour and Caitlin DeClercq Prologue: Pandemics and urban health – Sandro Galea PART 1: URBAN GOVERNANCE: POLITICS AND MANAGEMENT 1. Plague in Sibiu and the first quarantine plan in Central Europe, 1510 – Katalin Szende and Ottó Gecser 2. Mughal governance, mobility, and responses to the plague in Agra, India, 1618–19 – Mehreen Chida-Razvi 3. Urban governance, economic intervention, and the plague in Bristol, England, 1665–66 – Andrew Wells 4. Smallpox and the specter of Mexican citizenship, 1826 – Farren Yero 5. Complacency, confusion, and the mismanagement of cholera in York, England, 1832 – Ann-Marie Akehurst 6. Cholera, the Roman aqueduct, and urban renewal in Naples, Italy, 1860–1914 – Sofia Greaves 7. The contested governance of border railways and the plague of Northeast China, 1910–11 – Yongming Chen and Yishen Chen 8. Print, politics, and the smallpox epidemic in Terre Haute, USA, 1902–3 – Allen Shotwell 9. Colonialism, racism, and the government response to bubonic plague in Nairobi, Kenya, 1895–1910 – Catherine Odari PART 2: URBAN LIFE: CULTURE AND SOCIETY 10. Women, social solidarities, and the plague in 17th-century Newcastle, England – Rachel Clamp 11. The Jewish ghetto as a space of quarantine in Prague, 1713 – Joshua Teplitsky 12. Hygiene and urban life in the 'District of Death' in 19th-century Istanbul – Fezanur Karaağaçlıoğlu 13. Religious rituals and cholera in the shrine cities of 19th-century Iran – Fuchsia Hart 14. Social life, illness, and the marketplace in Kumasi, Ghana, from the 20th century to the present – George Osei and Shobana Shankar 15. The city as field hospital and the influenza epidemic in Seattle, USA, 1918–19 – Louisa Iarocci 16. Rural migrants, smallpox, and civic surgery in 20th-century Baghdad, Iraq – Huma Gupta 17. House, social Life, and smallpox in Kathmandu, Nepal, 1963 – Susan Heydon 18. Meningitis, shared environments, and inequality in São Paulo, Brazil, 1971–75 – Daniela Sandler PART 3: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: PERMANENCE AND CHANGE 19. Epidemics and the royal control of public health in Lisbon, Portugal, 1480–95 – Danielle Abdon 20. The Guadalquivir River and plague in Seville, Spain, in the 16th century – Kristy Wilson Bowers 21. Social inequity and hospital infrastructure in the City of Puebla, Mexico, 1737 – Juan Luis Burke 22. Colonial infrastructure, ecology, and epidemics in Dhaka, 1858–1947 – Mohammad Hossain 23. South American health conventions, social stratification, and the Ilha Grande Lazaretto in Brazil, 1886 – Niuxa Dias Drago, Ana Paula Polizzo, and Fernando Delgado 24. Plague, displacement, and ecological disruption in Bombay, India, 1896 – Emily Webster 25. French urbanism, Vietnamese resistance, and the plague in Hanoi, Vietnam, 1885–1910 – Michael Vann 26. Building a community on Leprosy Island in the Philippines, 1898–1941 – Mary Anne Alabanza Akers 27. Shifting health paradigms and infrastructure in Australia in the 20th century – Karen Daws and Julie Willis PART 4: URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING: INTERVENTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 28. Urban design, social epidemiology, and the bubonic plague of Palermo, Italy, 1575–76 – Carlo Trombino 29. Cholera and housing reform in Victorian London, England, 1850–1900 – Irina Davidovici 30. Public health, urban development, and cholera in Tokyo, Japan, 1877–95 – Susan L. Burns 31. The Hong Kong plague and public parks in the British settlements of Shanghai and Tianjin, China, 1894 – Yichi Zhang 32. Rebuilding the British Seamen’s Hospital at Smyrna in the wake of smallpox and cholera epidemics, 1892 – Işılay Tiarnagh Sheridan Gün and Erdem Erten 33. Spatial change and the cholera epidemic in Manila, the Philippines, 1902–4 – Ian Morley 34. Plague, housing, and battles over segregation in colonial Dakar, Senegal, 1914 – Gregory Valdespino 35. Urban transformation and public health policies in post-influenza Lagos, Nigeria, 1918 – Timothy Oluseyi Odeyale 36. Urban landscape transformations and the malaria control scheme in Mauritius, 1948–51 – Nicole de Lalouvière Epilogue: Post-COVID urbanism and architecture – Richard J. Jackson Glossary Bibliography Authors’ biographies Index

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Book SynopsisMedicine and Healing in the Pre-Modern West traces the history of medicine and medical practice from Ancient Egypt through to the end of the Middle Ages. Featuring nearly one hundred primary documents and images, this book introduces students and scholars to the words and ideas of prominent physicians and humble healers, men and women, from across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Each of the ten chronological and thematic chapters is given a significant historical introduction, in which each primary source is described in its original context. Many of the included source texts are newly translated by the editor, some of them appearing in English for the first time.Key Features The first history of medicine reader to cover both Antiquity and the Middle Ages in a single volume. Nearly one hundred primary sources, including several images. Each topic and reading is accompanied by an introduction from the editor, and explanatory annotations are included throughout to clarify unfamiliar concepts. Significant coverage of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures in the Middle Ages. Many of the primary sources are newly translated, some of them available in English for the first time. Trade Review“We finally have a sorely needed volume of primary sources that illustrates the breadth, depth, vibrancy, and development of premodern medical thinking. Winston Black has assembled a remarkable collection of key texts and provided clear and concise introductions that contextualize the sources and highlight their significance. Unfamiliar terms and references are conveniently explained in the margins, making the already clear translations even more readable. Any course that addresses premodern health or healing will find this coherent, expertly curated, and accessible set of sources absolutely essential.” — Frederick Gibbs, University of New Mexico“Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West is a welcome addition to the growing corpus of primary-source collections dealing with the history of science and medicine. Providing an eclectic range of numerous documents from the earliest civilizations in the Mediterranean basin through the central Middle Ages, the book can serve as a general grounding in the subject, as a supplemental text for survey courses, or as a source for further individualized research. The source texts—many of which are translated into English for the first time—come prefaced with helpful thematic overviews, and each text receives its own introduction. Medicine and Healing presents a nuanced yet manageable selection of sources; students will find it eminently fascinating.” — Christine Senecal, Shippensburg University“Winston Black has chosen an intriguing array of primary sources on themes such as religious healing, ancient Egyptian medicine, the Islamicate world, surgery, women’s medicine, and charms and magical medicine. Clear headnotes, careful definitions of technical or unfamiliar terms, and topic overviews will help undergraduates and new graduate students alike. Teaching early medicine just got easier!” — Mary Fissell, Johns Hopkins University“In Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents, Black draws on his strengths as a historian of medicine and religion to provide a concise and accessible treatment of the development of the medical arts from Antiquity to the Late Medieval Period. … As it is meant as an introduction to the topic, Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West does not stray from its path and for this reason it is a welcome exemplar of what can be achieved in future contributions of introductory works on the history of science and medicine.” — Michael Lawson University of California-Berkeley, Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and ScienceTable of Contents Introduction Chronology Questions to Consider Documents 1. The Earliest Medical Writings of the Near East and Mediterranean (ca.2000-700 BCE) 1. The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus 2. Diagnosis in Ancient Egypt: The Ebers Papyrus 3. A Babylonian Spell against Fever 4. Plague as Divine Punishment in Homer’s Iliad 5. Gods as the Source of Disease: Hesiod, Works and Days 6. Violence and Healing in Homeric Greece 2. Medicine and Healing among the Ancient Greeks (ca.500 BCE – 200 CE) Rational Medicine in the Age of Hippocrates 7. Hippocratic Corpus, Nature of Man 8. Plato on the Nature of Disease: Timaeus 9. Thucydides and the Plague of Athens, 430 BCE 10. Hippocratic Corpus, Aphorisms 11. Hippocratic Corpus, Airs, Waters, and Places 12. Case Histories the Hippocratic Epidemics Asclepius, the God of Physicians 13. The Hippocratic Oath 14. Pindar: Apollo leaves Asclepius with Chiron the Centaur 15. Celsus celebrates Asclepius as a Man 16. A Greek anatomical votive plaque 17. Aelius Aristides dreams of Asclepius 18. An Egyptian God in Greek Dress in a Hellenistic Papyrus 3. Professional Medicine in the Roman Mediterranean (ca.1-300 CE) 19. Galen, On the Medical Sects 20. Aretaeus the Cappadocian on the Difficult Case of Tetanus 21. Rufus of Ephesus, Medical Questions: Interrogation of the Patient 22. Celsus: A Healthy Regimen without Doctors 23. Dioscorides and the Science of Pharmacology 24. Galen, the Boastful Practitioner: On the Affected Places 25. Galen, On Black Bile: Praising and Rewriting Hippocrates 26. Herodian on a plague in the Roman Empire 4. Practical Medicine for the Roman Family and Home (ca.100-500 CE) 27. Varro, De re rustica: An early germ theory? 28. Vegetius, De re militari: Preserving the Health of Imperial Troops 29. The Legend of Agnodike, a Greek midwife and physician 30. Soranus of Ephesus: Instructions for Midwives 31. Cato the Elder’s Roman remedies: Cabbage, Wine, and Magic 32. Pliny the Elder’s homespun medicine: Remedies derived from Wool 33. Popular medicine in verse: Liber medicinalis 5. Distilling Classical Medicine in Late Antiquity (ca.300-700 CE) 34. Oribasius: A Galenic Diet in the Later Roman Empire 35. Anthimus to King Theoderic, On the Observance of Diet 36. A Medieval Primer in Ancient Medicine by St. Isidore of Seville 37. Medicine of Pliny for the Informed Traveler 38. The Herbarius of Apuleius Platonicus 39. Marcellus and His Empirical Handbook of Medicines 40. The Drug Theory of Paul of Aegina 6. Medical Diversity in the Early Middle Ages (ca.600-1000 CE) Monotheism and Medicine 41. The Oath of Asaph, a Jewish Physician’s Oath 42. A Christianized Hippocratic Oath 43. Medicine and Diet in the Rule of St. Benedict 44. Roman Doctors as Christian Saints: Cosmas and Damian 45. Islamic Medicine of the Prophet: Sunan Abu Duwud Early Medieval Responses to Plague and Pestilence 46. Evagrius Scholasticus on the Plague of Justinian 47. Gregory of Tours on Epidemic Disease and the Sickness of Kings 48. A Votive Mass against Pestilence Old English Medicine: Superstition or Empiricism? 49. The Nine Herbs Charm, from the Old English Lacnunga 50. Bald’s Leechbook: Herbal remedies for eye problems 51. Medical Prognostics in Anglo-Saxon England 7. The Arabic Tradition of Learned Medicine (ca.900-1400 CE) 52. An Introduction to Rational Medicine: Hunayn ibn Ishaq’s Isagoge 53. Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine 54. Avicenna on Prognosis through Urine 55. Maimonides and Galen on the Meaning of the Pulse 56. Al-Razi, Case Studies in the Spirit of Hippocrates 57. Usamah ibn Munqidh: A Muslim view of Frankish Medicine 58. Al-Razi on Diagnosis and Treatment for Smallpox and Measles 59. Pilgrim Medicine: Qust? ibn L?q? on “The Little Dragon of Medina” 60. Ancient Greeks in Later Medieval Prophetic Medicine: al-Tibb al-nabawi 8. Learned Medicine in High Medieval Europe (ca.1000-1400 CE) Humours, Complexion, and Uroscopy 61. A Clever Duke and a Cleverer Physician in the Tenth Century 62. Constantine the African, Pantegni: Understanding Complexion 63. Humoural Medicine in Verse: The Salernitan Regimen of Health 64. A Medieval Urine Wheel 65. Constantine the African with a Urine Glass Explaining Diseases 66. Diagnosing Lovesickness: Constantine the African’s Medicalized Emotions 67. Platearius on Leprosy in Theory and Practice 68. Guy de Chauliac’s personal experience with the Black Death Observation and Authority 69. Trota of Salerno as a Medical Master 70. Medical Education in High Medieval Europe (Three Accounts) 71. Licenses for Male and Female Surgeons in Medieval Naples 72. A Woman Physician on Trial in Medieval Paris, 1322 9. Medical Practice in the High Middle Ages (ca.1000-1400 CE) Herbalism and Pharmacology 73. Macer Floridus, On the Virtues of Herbs 74. Henry of Huntingdon, Herbalism in The English Garden 75. Matthaeus Platearius: Rationalizing Simple and Compound Medicines Arabic and Latin Surgery 76. Learned Surgery: Albucasis on the Treatment of Cataracts 77. Applying Medical Theory to Wound Treatment: Guy de Chauliac 78. Training and Decorum for the Learned Surgeon Medieval Obstetrics and Gynecology 79. Copho: Anatomy of the uterus, learned from a pig 80. A Brief Guide to Uroscopy of Women 81. Contraceptives in the Canon of Avicenna 82. St. Hildegard of Bingen: A Moralized Explanation of Menstruation 83. Trotula: Treating Retention of the Period in Medieval Italy 84. A Medieval Hebrew Treatise on Difficult Births 10. Medicine and the Supernatural: Competitors or Partners? (ca.1000-1400 CE) 85. A Doctor and a Saint in Early Salerno 86. The Life of Saint Milburga: Physicians and Saints, Healing Together? 87. Doctors and Miracles in the Canonization of Lady Delphine 88. Medieval Jewish Magical Medicine 89. Medieval Christian Healing Charms 90. John Arderne, Astrological Instructions for the Surgeon 91. Image: Astrological Bloodletting Man

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Book Synopsis“The surprise ‘must-read’ for people facing the Covid-19 epidemic.” —The TelegraphIn 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Defoe was just five at the time of the plague, but he later called on his own memories, as well as his writing experience, to create this vivid chronicle of the epidemic and its victims. A Journal (1722) follows Defoe's fictional narrator as he traces the devastating progress of the plague through the streets of London. Here we see a city transformed: some of its streets suspiciously empty, some—with crosses on their doors—overwhelmingly full of the sounds and smells of human suffering. And every living citizen he meets has a horrifying story that demands to be heard.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics reprTrade Review“One of the most original and harrowing accounts of living through a virulent pandemic . . . as full of meaning about human suffering today as it was when it was written.” —The Daily Beast“A brilliant account of the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Britain—and it can still educate readers three centuries later.” —BBC News“[A] classic of plague literature . . . Camus was inspired by this book in writing The Plague.” —The Jerusalem Post “So grimly immediate . . . you can practically smell the death and decay.” —The Guardian “A realistic account of the plague’s effects on [London]. Defoe’s novel still has the power to unsettle—like when he writes about families forced into quarantine due to an infected family member.” —Vulture"Within the texture of Defoe's prose, London becomes a living and suffering being." —Peter AckroydTable of ContentsA Journal of the Plague YearChronology Introduction Notes Further Reading A Note on the TextA Journal of the Plague Year Appendix I: The Plague Appendix II: Topographical Index Appendix III: London Maps Appendix IV: Introduction by Anthony Burgess to the 1966 Penguin English Library Edition Glossary Notes

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Book SynopsisA FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAROne of our most scintillating public intellectuals explores the political paradoxes of the pandemic and helps us think our way through it''We are able to imagine anything because we are being besieged by something that was considered unimaginable...''Beneath the panic and bluster, beneath the confusing speeches and the conflicting advice, the Coronavirus pandemic acted, changing our world in the most profound ways. The tragic human cost and the economic devastation will be assessed and calculated for decades to come. But the pandemic also changed things in ways that are less easily expressed and understood. It has made bare the frayed contradictions of modern life. It has distorted things that seemed simple and settled. It has affirmed plain, uncomfortable truths. In this brilliant, thought-provoking essay, Ivan Krastev, one of our most interesting thinkers today, explores the pandemic''s iTrade ReviewOne of the great European minds of today -- Timothy SnyderFew people question the conventional wisdom like Ivan Krastev -- George SorosIvan Krastev is one of Europe's leading thinkers -- Madeleine Albright

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Book SynopsisThe astonishing true story of how Catherine the Great joined forces with a Quaker doctor from Essex to spearhead a groundbreaking public health campaignTrade Review‘[A] sparkling history book with a fairytale atmosphere of sleigh rides, royal palaces and heroic risk-taking… This is exactly the book we need to read at the moment.’ -- The Times‘Informative, enthusiastically written and based on thorough research.’ -- BBC History Magazine‘This gripping account of her deep friendship with an English doctor – and their battle to save the Russian people from the scourge of smallpox – shows [Catherine the Great] in an entirely different light.’ -- Daily Mail‘Entertaining and well-researched.’ -- Financial Times‘Mirroring so many of the vaccination issues of our modern age, as well as those of bodily autonomy, feminism, and power…a must-read.’ -- Jojo Moyes‘Timely and engaging… A truly fascinating book that reads like a thriller.’ -- Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and former president of the Royal Society‘Lucy Ward has zoomed in on one of the more dramatic episodes in that dramatic century… vivid.’ -- Economist‘A deft and captivating chronicle.’ -- Wall Street Journal‘Lively and informative.’ -- TLS‘An enthralling tale of two remarkable personalities who risked all for the benefit of mankind, and of a struggle between medical science and human instinct that could not be more relevant today.’ -- Adam Zamoyski‘A rich and wonderfully urgent work of history which engagingly recounts one of the greatest moments in modern science and public health: a story of Enlightenment conviction, Court intrigue, Anglo-Russian relations, and timeless, personal bravery. An expertly recounted eighteenth-century tale of political leadership and medical progress with obvious insights for today.’ -- Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum‘So meticulously researched, well-paced and finely written is this tale of medical drama and royal daring that one quickly forgets that it is Lucy Ward’s first book. Her story is a remarkable one, full of contemporary resonance, but fascinating in its own right… a real page-turner.’ -- Matthew D’Ancona, Tortoise‘In this fluent and enlightening account of the fight to eradicate the terrifying scourge of smallpox, Ward deftly describes how an English Quaker doctor, Thomas Dimsdale, played a crucial role as a pioneer of the new technique of inoculation… The Empress and the English Doctor is a gripping read and all the more timely and extraordinary for having been written in the midst of the Covid pandemic.’ -- Dr Helen Rappaport, bestselling author and historian‘This is a fascinating and meticulously researched book with the excitement of a thriller. It’s a remarkable story of female leadership and personal courage. Lucy Ward uses her brilliance as a narrator combined with her insight as a former Lobby journalist to bring to life one of history’s most powerful women who really did “follow the science”.’ -- Harriet Harman MP‘The scepticism and hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines make Ward’s eminently readable history feel timely as she expertly examines the intersection of medicine and politics.’ -- Booklist, starred review‘Packed with political intrigue and scientific insight, this is a fascinating narrative revealing how early inoculation pioneers overcame superstition, prejudice and misinformation. Move forward more than two centuries and the parallels with the current Covid-19 pandemic are incredible!’ -- Jonathan Ball, professor of virology, University of Nottingham‘A fascinating and beautifully told story about courageous vaccination pioneers.’ -- Kate Bingham, Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce‘This is a wonderful book. It tells the story of the greatest medical discovery before Pasteur, inoculation against smallpox, through the life of a Quaker doctor, Thomas Dimsdale, and his journey to Russia to treat Catherine the Great… It’s a long time since I’ve read a history book as beautifully constructed as this – it’s a remarkable achievement.’ -- David Wootton, anniversary professor of history, University of York, and author of The Invention of Science‘This is a remarkable and fascinating story of scientific discovery, breakthrough medicine and inspirational female leadership by Catherine the Great. The revelations in this book resonate with today’s battle against Covid-19. Lucy Ward has undertaken brilliant detective work… This is a must-read book.’ -- Sir Norman Lamb, former UK Health Minister‘Timely… The author demonstrates beautifully how London has historically led on the science with first “inoculation” and then “vaccination” – indeed, longer than most people realise.’ -- Professor Dame Sally Davies, former Chief Medical Officer for England‘A tale of multiple and intertwining themes – private and public health, public administration, and the politics of Empires… Although the book is about things that happened over 250 years ago, the hopes and fears of the people facing those difficult choices resonate with our own times.’ -- Laurie Bristow, former UK ambassador to the Russian Federation‘Women’s role in driving forward key scientific discoveries has too often gone unrecognised. The Empress and the English Doctor honours Catherine the Great’s pioneering scientific journey, demonstrating her personal bravery, her exacting insight and her resolve to protect others against smallpox. This thrilling and important story offers an insight into the determination, tenacity and grit needed to work in science, even today!’ -- Professor Teresa Lambe, Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology, University of Oxford and co-designer of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine‘Timely and engaging…the unlikely and remarkable story of how an English doctor, Thomas Dimsdale, and Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, showed great personal courage and took serious personal risks to promote inoculation against smallpox using a method that had originated in Asia. The success of these early efforts led directly to the first vaccine by Jenner, and over the next two centuries saved millions of lives that would have been lost to many different diseases, culminating in the recent vaccines against Covid-19. A truly fascinating book that reads like a thriller.’ -- Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and former president of the Royal Society‘A fascinating, deep dive into a neglected topic in the history of vaccines, with many lessons for the prevention of viruses today. Lucy Ward blends history and personality to shed light on a story that has been overlooked in favour of Jenner and his milkmaid.’ -- Dr John Tregoning, Reader in Respiratory Infections, Imperial College London‘An entertaining account… Brimming with vivid historical details, this is a memorable account of a medical and social breakthrough.’ * Publishers Weekly * ‘An extraordinary and fascinating story’ -- Choice‘A poignant tale, expertly researched and beautifully written.’ -- Aspects of History‘It’s hard to imagine a better-timed book than this one' * Globe and Mail *‘A combination of arcane detail and the high colour of a period drama.’ -- Spectator'Ward ably contextualises the event within the intellectual currents of the era... Astute.' -- Lancet'[a] gripping story of Enlightenment ideals, female leadership, and the fight to promote science over superstition.' -- New York Public Library, Books of the Year‘Offers unforced parallels with our present … At the heart of this learned, erudite book, full of rich and legible scientific detail, is the extraordinary, and extraordinarily moving, dynamic between the Empress and Dimsdale … [a] rather thrilling account.’ -- The Critic, Books of the Year‘By 1980, the global smallpox vaccination campaign had resulted in the complete eradication of the deadly disease. Ward’s captivating and informative book relates events that took place two centuries earlier and laid the foundation of this unique achievement.’ -- Foreign Affairs

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary worlds created in our mindsTrade Review‘A varied and thought-provoking journey.’ -- The Times‘Fascinating and compassionate.’ -- Horatio Clare, author of Heavy Light‘Riveting case histories grounded in context and narrated with novelistic verve and impressive authority.’ -- Julie Kavanagh, author of The Irish Assassins‘An utterly engrossing book. It reaches through layers of mania and the distance of centuries to connect you completely to its subjects, such that you miss them when they're gone.’ -- Zoe Williams‘Meticulously researched… this is a good time to take delusions seriously.’ -- Daily Express'A humane and thoughtful account.' -- Washington Post‘This absorbing study… Shepherd goes beyond formal, detached accounts by physicians, trying instead to get a glimpse of whole human beings whose lives unravelled through trauma into delusional thinking… a humane, attentive exploration of locked-in worlds inhabited by people whose mental certainties could be both comforting and terrifying.’ -- BBC History Magazine‘A timely reminder that nothing is new, just how we deal with it. Shepherd's evocative descriptions take you from seventeenth-century Oxford to twentieth-century Paris with detail as rich as the stories she uncovers. Thought-provoking as well as deeply informative.’ -- Annie Gray, author of Victory in the Kitchen‘Each chapter opens with a compelling portrait of someone whose life was consumed, even destroyed, by a false idea… Poignant... By looking back on historical examples of the phenomenon, Shepherd shows both the mistakes and triumphs of the past, which should inform more compassionate, dignified treatment of the mentally ill in the future. From fourteenth-century England to twentieth-century France, A History of Delusions examines the thin, blurry line between sanity and insanity.’ * Foreword Reviews *‘In this bewitching debut, Shepherd adapts her BBC Radio 4 series of the same name, providing a delightfully strange account of delusions… Reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, Shepherd opts for empathy over prurience, highlighting the humanity of her subjects and lucidly drawing out the dream logic by which their delusions operate. This is a wondrous reminder of the intricacy and paradox of the human mind.’ -- Publishers Weekly, Books of the Week‘Fascinating and bizarre, these thoughtful case studies serve as escape hatches into the past, revealing the historical preoccupations that may have given rise to these delusions.’ * Publishers Weekly, Summer Reads 2022 *‘Confidently and pacily, and with an intimate tone driven by the book’s incarnation as a BBC Radio 4 series, Shepherd unpacks each case story to identify the reasons behind the purported loss of reason… Through these histories Shepherd aims to build our own connection with, and understanding of, people whose delusions may on first encounter seem bizarre: through the stories they tell themselves, they perhaps tell us – at a time that often seems out of joint, even deranged – about the stories we tell ourselves.’ -- Dr Philip Sidney, Catholic Herald‘A compelling series of individual case studies… fascinating… Shepherd is an excellent guide, offering concise accounts of specific diagnoses and a particularly absorbing account of the work of French asylum doctor Philippe Pinel… we close the book convinced of her central message: delusions are not signs of madness, but “important and compelling” phenomena.’ -- Fortean Times

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Book SynopsisSevere famine entered ancient Egyptian collective memory via personal reflection, literature, prophecy, and, most effectively, a ludic 'festival of remembrance.' This Element is about the creation and curation of social memory in pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt.Table of Contents1. Famine and Social Memory; 2. The Role of Witness Literature in Preserving Social Memory; 3. The Role of 'Prophecy' in Preserving Social Memory; 4. The Role of Rituals in Preserving Social Memory; References.

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Book SynopsisIn the wake of COVID, it's more important than ever to understand epidemicshow they emerge and what we can do to fight back.Part of Bloomsbury's Q&A Health Guides series, this book takes a balanced approach, offering a blend of both epidemiological science and practical suggestions grounded in that science. The volume's 47 questions begin with the basics, including which diseases are most likely to become epidemics, which have historically been the deadliest, and how factors such as climate change will affect the emergence of future pandemics. Next, the book answers readers' questions regarding how epidemics spread and how strategies such as disease reporting, quarantine, and vaccine development can help combat them. Readers will also find questions offering guidance on how to protect yourself during a widespread disease event, including which information sources to trust and how personal choices can influence exposure risk. The final section of questions examiTable of ContentsSeries Forward Acknowledgments Introduction Guide to Health Literacy Common Misconceptions about Epidemics and Pandemics 1. Epidemics are caused by highly communicable microbial agents 2. Epidemics are only caused by novel pathogens for which humans have no immunity 3. Pandemics are the result of the highly interconnected world we live in, where no country is more than 24 hours away from any other 4. Epidemics are only dangerous for people who are already unhealthy 5. More investment in vaccine research and development can prevent future epidemics Questions and Answers The Basics 1. What is an epidemic? What is a pandemic? 2. Which diseases are most likely to cause epidemics and pandemics? 3. Are there places on earth where epidemic diseases are more common? 4. Who decides when an epidemic has emerged and who decides when it’s over? What criteria are used to do so? 5. What have been the most lethal epidemics in recorded history? 6. Does climate change influence the prevalence of epidemic disease? 7. Which diseases pose the greatest threat to humanity? 8. Can future pandemics be prevented? How Epidemics and Pandemics Begin and Spread How Epidemics and Pandemics Begin and Spread 9. How are epidemic diseases transmitted? 10. How do epidemic diseases spread? 11. How much of a pathogen is needed to create infection? 12. What is a basic reproductive number? 13. What is an incubation period and how can it affect the spread of an epidemic disease? 14. What is a disease’s infectious period and how can it influence an epidemic? 15. Why do diseases mutate over time, and how does this affect the spread of epidemics? 16. What factors increase susceptibility to epidemic disease? 17. What is a super-spreader and what role do they play in epidemics? 18. What does it mean to be asymptomatic, and can an asymptomatic person spread disease? 19. Is there a natural progression for an epidemic disease? Will an epidemic or pandemic eventually die out on its own? Combatting Epidemics and Pandemics 20. In the United States, who is in charge of organizing a response to an epidemic? 21. What institutions are responsible for global responses to pandemics? 22. What is disease reporting and why is it important during an epidemic? 23. What is contact tracing and how does it reduce the spread of disease? 24. How do vaccines work? How effective are they? 25. How do researchers create vaccines for new diseases? 26. What non-pharmaceutical measures work to combat epidemics when effective vaccines or antibiotics don’t exist? 27. What is the difference between quarantine and isolation? How do they help combat epidemics? 28. What are universal public health precautions? 29. Do public health mandates to control human behavior work? 30. Covid-19 revealed political differences in the way pandemics are managed. Is this a new phenomenon? Protecting Yourself during an Epidemic or Pandemic 31. Will past exposure to an epidemic disease protect against future exposures to that disease? 32. What personal choices influence exposure to disease? 33. What are the most effective ways to protect oneself when an epidemic or pandemic occurs? 34. Is handwashing effective for reducing exposure to epidemic diseases? 35. Can a face covering protect me from epidemic diseases? 36. Which surfaces should be cleaned to minimize the risk of infection, and what sort of cleaning products work best? 37. Does social distancing work to reduce exposure to epidemic diseases? 38. Are there dietary and exercise routines that improve immunity? 39. When someone in your household gets an epidemic disease, what precautions should be taken? 40. What lifestyle choices can improve mental health during an epidemic? 41. What are trustworthy organizations and sources of information to consult during an epidemic? The Impact of Epidemics and Pandemics 42. Do epidemics affect certain groups of people more than others? 43. Can epidemics and pandemics lead to health problems even after they’ve officially ended? 44. In what other ways can an epidemic or pandemic negatively impact physical health? 45. How can an epidemic or pandemic affect individuals’ mental and social well-being? 46. How do pandemics affect the economy, politics, and culture? 47. How do epidemics and pandemics stigmatize certain people? Case Studies 1. So Much for the 6-Foot Social Distancing Rule: The Tale of a Loudmouth and Captive Employee 2. Reports of “Mongolian Purple Plague” Spark Riots in the United States 3. A Smallpox Bioterrorism Event Closes New York City and Creates a Public Health Emergency 4. Spreading Monkeypox: The Extreme Burdens of Poverty and Limited Access to Health Care Services 5. Digital Breadcrumbs Expedite Contact Tracing during a Measles Outbreak Glossary Directory of Resources Index

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Book SynopsisOswald de Lacy returns in this Medieval thriller from the author of PLAGUE LAND and THE BUTCHER BIRD.Trade ReviewAn intriguing and vivid addition to an increasingly interesting series, and a fascinating glimpse of an almost forgotten period of history. -- Andrew TaylorLiving legends Andrew Taylor and Susanna Gregory; bestselling phenomena SJ Parris and CJ Sansom... a league of extraordinary resurrectionists. If you love their books, I invite you to visit fourteenth-century England, with SD Sykes ... Savour the company of young Oswald de Lacy, among the most appealing historical sleuths currently on the hunt. -- A.J. FinnChilling and evocative. This book will have you gripped from the first page to the last -- Tracy BormanIf you love C.J. Sansom, you have to read S.D. Sykes. Her Oswald de Lacy series just gets better and better. The Bone Fire is a wonderfully claustrophobic and compelling mystery, filled with clever twists, fascinating characters and flashes of Sykes's sly wit. Utterly immersive, utterly gripping historical crime at its very, very best. -- Antonia HodgsonAn ingenious, twisty plot with memorable characters in an intriguing siege narrative -- Rebecca MascullSykes' fourth is anchored in a grimly evocative first-person narrative reminiscent of Poe, and there's a whodunit to boot. * Kirkus *Neatly done, crisply-paced historical... written with a fine sense of place and time * Shots Magazine *Sykes effectively uses her diligent research in the service of a memorable plot. This outing reinforces her place in the historical mystery genre's top ranks. * Publishers Weekly *The setting is fantastic [...] builds to a satisfyingly twisty climax * The Times *SD Sykes proves that she is not only on top of her historical fiction game but is also a mistress of the detective genre * Historia Magazine *Enjoyable 'locked castle' mystery * The Sunday Times *Atmospheric, and well told * Choice Magazine *Sykes give it (plague) a life and character of its own - swift, remorseless and deadly * New York Times *As the number of victims rises, Oswald knows he faces a threat every bit as great as the plague that now besieges the castle walls * S Magazine *An absolutely engrossing historical mystery * Booklist *Sykes gives it (plague) a life and character of its own - swift, remorseless and deadly * New York Times *Praise for S D Sykes * - *Sykes is a master at combining historical setting with mystery * The Times *The medieval CJ Sansom -- Jeffery DeaverThe whodunnit aspect is neatly done, the family secrets and waspish relationships are intriguing, and humour and originality are abundant. * Daily Mail *Sykes effectively uses her diligent research in the service of a memorable plot. This outing reinforces her place in the historical mystery genre's top ranks. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the story of the disease that devastated the Victorian population, and brought about major changes in sanitation. Drawing on the latest scientific research and a wealth of archival material, Amanda Thomas uses first-hand accounts, blending personal stories with an overview of the history of the disease and its devastating after-effects on British society. This fascinating history of a catastrophic disease uncovers forgotten stories from each of the major cholera outbreaks in 1831-3, 1848-9, 1853-4 and 1866. Amanda Thomas reveals that Victorian theories about the disease were often closer to the truth than we might assume, among them the belief that cholera was spread by miasma, or foul air.

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Book Synopsis'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today' - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich'This work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama' - GuardianIn Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution.For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin the extraordinary but troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government that deposed him. The other is the view from the bottom, that of the workers and peasants who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship imposed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his successors.Service's vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin’s death in 1924. In it, he reveals that key seeds of the revolution were sown by the Tsar's decision to join the war against Germany in 1914. He shows with brutal clarity how those events played out, eventually leading to the establishment of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which would endure for the next seven decades.Nicholas II, Kerensky and Lenin are to the fore, but Service enriches his narrative by drawing on little-known diaries of those such as the Vologda peasant Alexander Zamaraev, the NCO Alexei Shtukaturov and the Moscow accounts clerk Nikita Okunev. Through the testimony of these ‘ordinary’ people, Service traces the tortuous path that Russia took through war, revolution and civil war.'This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . ' - The TimesTrade ReviewRobert Service’s Blood on the Snow is his masterwork, the product of decades of thought about Russia’s past. A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today. -- Michael Burleigh, author of author of Day of the Assassins and The Third Reich: A New HistoryThis work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama * Guardian *Blood on the Snow crowns Robert Service’s four decades of work on the Russian Revolution and its perpetrators. * Literary Review *This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . Service takes a methodical approach, carefully outlining the sequence of events and always emphasising the importance of simple luck. In contrast to other authors, he lets ordinary people have their voice, through an assortment of otherwise neglected diaries. * The Times *Robert Service’s Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution 1914–1924 brings a new vibrancy to the history of the Revolution . . . With its short chapters and choppy sentences, and a title and jacket design that are more airport novel than academic tome, Service’s history reads like a thriller and is all the better for it. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisIn Until Further Notice, Amy Kaler records a personal account of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in real time. She documents a series of jolts to her thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and habits—an internal seismograph of living through a global emergency. Kaler’s introspection underlines the universal experience of dissonance brought on by COVID-19 and invites readers to ponder its ambiguities. At the same time, the pandemic lets Kaler put down roots, as she rediscovers her neighbourhood and her city’s natural spaces. Reflexive and relatable, Until Further Notice captures fine-grained, everyday experiences from an extraordinary year.Trade Review“Like Thoreau in his Walden woods, Amy Kaler is studying the natural and social environment around her and observing her own responses.” Alice Major, writer and poet“Amy Kaler doesn’t pretend to provide answers or counsel the uncertain, but instead offers a record of in-betweenness–including crucial questions about work, identity, safety and health–in a time of change.” Tanis MacDonald, author of Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female"Amy Kaler puts a personal touch on her pandemic experience in Until Further Notice: A Year in Pandemic Time. Thoughts, emotions, habits: they all fall under the microscope and are fodder for observation. She also talks about how the pandemic forced her to be more engaged with her community and her city’s natural spaces, two positives in an otherwise horrendous mess." Justin Bell, Edmonton Journal, August 11, 2022“[Kaler] offers thoughtful company along the path to a post-pandemic future that none of us can yet quite fathom.” Jenna Butler, Alberta Views, January 3, 2023 [Full review at https://albertaviews.ca/until-further-notice/]Table of Contentsxi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xvii The Beginning Spring 2020 3 Before, After 4 Concentration 6 Returns 8 Breathe 9 Airport Security 10 Crossing New Thresholds 12 The Crash Summer 2020 17 On Trails 18 What Are You Looking At? 21 Twice-Blooming Lilacs 23 Curiosity Cabinet 26 All the Futures 28 The Licence Plate 29 Bewildered 31 Covid Anxiety 33 Downward 34 Crime and Punishment/Everything Is Free 37 Objects 39 Where is Here and Where is There? 41 The End of Science World 43 Why I Can’t Think Fall 2020 49 Medicine 50 Masks 52 The Places Where People Are Not 54 Emergencies and Disasters 55 In the Airport in October 56 Peak Personal Responsibility 59 Resignation and the Second Wave 61 The River is Alive 63 De-Escalation 65 Normalized/Panicked 66 It’s All Fucking Bullshit 67 Watching the Election 68 The Fresh Horrors Device 70 The Campsite 71 Pandemic Melancholy Winter 2021 77 Time of Trial 78 Vacation Scandal 82 Schadenfreude 84 Hermits 86 Buffalo Bill’s Defunct 87 Be Kind 89 Like a Drug Deal 90 Hi Mom, It’s Me 91 Subtle Loss 92 Ice is Solid and Liquid 93 Rules and Vacations 95 Ice, Again 96 Who Are You Going to Believe? 98 No Time at the North Pole 99 Getting Better or Not? 101 Hard Freeze 102 Falls the Shadow 104 Jellyfish Time 105 Walking Into The Hill 107 Moon Illusion 109 Time-Dividend 112 Adolescent Bardo 113 Proprioception 115 Lost Places and the Annual Lockdown Spring 2021 121 Two Futures 122 Brain Studies 125 Skiing 128 This is Your Brain on Covid 130 Ravine and Downtown 132 The Place Becomes Strange 135 Life on Mars 136 Leonard Cohen at the Whistle Stop Café 139 Desolation Coda 147 Vaccine Theology 153 References"

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Book SynopsisA PLAGUE - A VILLAGE - A LOCKDOWN 1665, Eyam, Derbyshire. 'Here I have set down all that I know of the Plague'It is 1665 and Mall Percival is a shepherd girl living in a Derbyshire village. She tends her flock, spends time with her best friend and teaches her young suitor to read. But one day a parcel of patterns, meant for a new dress for the pastor's wife, wings its way from London.The parcel carries an infection that spreads with horrifying speed. Herbal teas and open windows are the only defence against the sickness. Yet the villagers make a brave and selfless decision: to isolate themselves from the rest of the country. It is a lockdown that saves the neighbouring towns, but at heart-breaking cost to Mall's world.Based on the true events of the village of Eyam, this is the story of a courageous sacrifice that saved Derbyshire and beyond from a deadly virus. *SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD PRIZE*'A pocket masterpiece' GuardianReaders love A Parcel of Patterns'I couldn't put it down''Brought me to tears too many times to count''If you think social distancing is hard in the Coronavirus pandemic, read this wonderful novel based on the true story of the village of Eyam'Trade ReviewA pocket masterpiece * Guardian *A masterly tale -- Lucy ManganIf ever there was a book to make us thankful to live in modern times, have scientific cures and the NHS, this is it. Jill Paton Walsh catches the voices of long ago, in the unbroken narrative of one likeable girl: 'author' of the story. Punctuated by exquisite glimpses of Nature, beautiful and raw, and of joyous first love, the account lays bare the horror of a remorseless epidemic. Even knowing the historical facts, we go on hoping, crossing our fingers, holding our breath. The archaic language, jolting at first, feels familiar by the end and adds to the authenticity of the heroine's account. The message to the reader - if indeed there is one - feels important: be grateful for small mercies...and glad to be alive -- Geraldine McCaughreanA beautifully written, meaningful story * Publishers Weekly *[Jill Paton Walsh] had an unpatronising literary style and was ambitious about what children would enjoy * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisIncludes 36 chapters that deploy interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of the mutual relationship between pandemics and the built environment. The chapters share the story of a pandemic in a particular city or region from five continents, and are organized in four sections to convey the mechanisms of change that affect vulnerabilities and responses to epidemic illnesses: 'Urban Governance', 'Urban Life', 'Urban Infrastructure' and 'Urban Design and Planning'. Two prominent scholars from the disciplines of public health and medical anthropology provide a prologue and epilogue: Sandro Galea writes on 'Pandemics and urban health', and Richard J. Jackson on 'Urbanism and architecture in the post-COVID era'. The contributors to this new study are historians, public health experts, art and architectural historians, sociologists, anthropologists, doctors and nurses. In researching their contributions, all have spoken to an audience that includes the public, practitioners and academic readers; the resultant case studies reveal a diverse range of urban interventions that are connected to the impact of epidemics on society and urban life, as well as the conceptualization of and response to disease. Epidemic illnesses – not only a product of biology, but also social and cultural phenomena – are as old as cities themselves. The recent pandemic has put into perspective the impact of epidemic illness on urban life and exposed the vulnerabilities of the societies it ravages as much as the bodies it infects. How can epidemics help us understand urban environments? How might insights from the outbreak and responses to previous urban epidemics inform our understanding of the current world? With these questions in mind, this book gathers scholarship from a range of disciplines to present case studies from across the globe, each demonstrating how cities in particular are not just the primary place of exposure and quarantine, but also the site and instrument of intervention. This book seeks to explore the profound and complex ways that architecture and landscape design were impacted by historical epidemics around the world, from North America to Africa and Australia, and to convey this information in a way that meaningfully engages a public readership. The chapters analyse the development of urban infrastructure, institutions and spaces in western and eastern societies in response to historical pandemics. They also demonstrate how epidemic illnesses, and their responses, exploit and amplify social inequality in the urban contexts and communities they impact.Trade Review'This is a brilliantly conceived, ground breaking collection that provides deep insight into the challenges that COVID poses to our world today. By focusing on the physical environment, these studies of past pandemics demonstrate how critical it is to tend to both neglected infrastructure and vulnerable communities. Epidemic Urbanism is an inspiring example of interdisciplinary collaboration across diverse times and places and the contributions it brings to the work of global public health.' Nancy Tomes, Distinguished Professor, Stony Brook University, USA -- Nancy Tomes“Epidemic Urbanism recounts the fascinating history of cities and plagues to shed light on present and future challenges. For hundreds of years, cities have played a central role in the spread, inequality, and containment of epidemics and pandemics. Why would COVID-19 be any different? Public health strategy is most effective when based on data, aligned with communities, and informed by the triumphs and failures of the past. This book is essential reading for the work of preparing for our next great infectious disease challenge.” Joshua M. Sharfstein, Professor and Vice Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA -- Joshua Sharfstein“As sports stadia and conference centres have transformed themselves into impromptu healthcare facilities and makeshift morgues, Epidemic Urbanism could not be timelier. Ranging from Agra in the 1610s to Sao Paulo in the 1970s, its studies of particular, historical outbreaks add up to a global account of how disease has affected cities and cities have affected disease. Drawing from specialists across a range of disciplines, Gharipour and DeClercq’s urgent collection draws from the past to point the way to the future. As Governments exhort and promise to ‘Build Back Better’, Epidemic Urbanism tellingly reminds us how such policies need to be informed by historical understanding and based around shared equity.” Ross MacFarlane, Research Development Specialist, The Wellcome Collection, UK -- Ross MacFarlane“The dynamic interplay of contagious illness and the built environment is a long and global story, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Epidemic Urbanism is an epic collection amplifying this theme, beautifully conceived and organized in a clear, orderly format (context-case study-conclusion). Its main intention is to inspire action, anticipating future historical studies and pandemics. Instructive examples take us around the world to see how illnesses have been managed and mis-managed by city dwellers.” Annmarie Adams, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Canada -- Annmarie AdamsTable of ContentsPreface – Mohammad Gharipour and Caitlin DeClercq Prologue: Pandemics and urban health – Sandro Galea PART 1: URBAN GOVERNANCE: POLITICS AND MANAGEMENT 1. Plague in Sibiu and the first quarantine plan in Central Europe, 1510 – Katalin Szende and Ottó Gecser 2. Mughal governance, mobility, and responses to the plague in Agra, India, 1618–19 – Mehreen Chida-Razvi 3. Urban governance, economic intervention, and the plague in Bristol, England, 1665–66 – Andrew Wells 4. Smallpox and the specter of Mexican citizenship, 1826 – Farren Yero 5. Complacency, confusion, and the mismanagement of cholera in York, England, 1832 – Ann-Marie Akehurst 6. Cholera, the Roman aqueduct, and urban renewal in Naples, Italy, 1860–1914 – Sofia Greaves 7. The contested governance of border railways and the plague of Northeast China, 1910–11 – Yongming Chen and Yishen Chen 8. Print, politics, and the smallpox epidemic in Terre Haute, USA, 1902–3 – Allen Shotwell 9. Colonialism, racism, and the government response to bubonic plague in Nairobi, Kenya, 1895–1910 – Catherine Odari PART 2: URBAN LIFE: CULTURE AND SOCIETY 10. Women, social solidarities, and the plague in 17th-century Newcastle, England – Rachel Clamp 11. The Jewish ghetto as a space of quarantine in Prague, 1713 – Joshua Teplitsky 12. Hygiene and urban life in the 'District of Death' in 19th-century Istanbul – Fezanur Karaağaçlıoğlu 13. Religious rituals and cholera in the shrine cities of 19th-century Iran – Fuchsia Hart 14. Social life, illness, and the marketplace in Kumasi, Ghana, from the 20th century to the present – George Osei and Shobana Shankar 15. The city as field hospital and the influenza epidemic in Seattle, USA, 1918–19 – Louisa Iarocci 16. Rural migrants, smallpox, and civic surgery in 20th-century Baghdad, Iraq – Huma Gupta 17. House, social Life, and smallpox in Kathmandu, Nepal, 1963 – Susan Heydon 18. Meningitis, shared environments, and inequality in São Paulo, Brazil, 1971–75 – Daniela Sandler PART 3: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: PERMANENCE AND CHANGE 19. Epidemics and the royal control of public health in Lisbon, Portugal, 1480–95 – Danielle Abdon 20. The Guadalquivir River and plague in Seville, Spain, in the 16th century – Kristy Wilson Bowers 21. Social inequity and hospital infrastructure in the City of Puebla, Mexico, 1737 – Juan Luis Burke 22. Colonial infrastructure, ecology, and epidemics in Dhaka, 1858–1947 – Mohammad Hossain 23. South American health conventions, social stratification, and the Ilha Grande Lazaretto in Brazil, 1886 – Niuxa Dias Drago, Ana Paula Polizzo, and Fernando Delgado 24. Plague, displacement, and ecological disruption in Bombay, India, 1896 – Emily Webster 25. French urbanism, Vietnamese resistance, and the plague in Hanoi, Vietnam, 1885–1910 – Michael Vann 26. Building a community on Leprosy Island in the Philippines, 1898–1941 – Mary Anne Alabanza Akers 27. Shifting health paradigms and infrastructure in Australia in the 20th century – Karen Daws and Julie Willis PART 4: URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING: INTERVENTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 28. Urban design, social epidemiology, and the bubonic plague of Palermo, Italy, 1575–76 – Carlo Trombino 29. Cholera and housing reform in Victorian London, England, 1850–1900 – Irina Davidovici 30. Public health, urban development, and cholera in Tokyo, Japan, 1877–95 – Susan L. Burns 31. The Hong Kong plague and public parks in the British settlements of Shanghai and Tianjin, China, 1894 – Yichi Zhang 32. Rebuilding the British Seamen’s Hospital at Smyrna in the wake of smallpox and cholera epidemics, 1892 – Işılay Tiarnagh Sheridan Gün and Erdem Erten 33. Spatial change and the cholera epidemic in Manila, the Philippines, 1902–4 – Ian Morley 34. Plague, housing, and battles over segregation in colonial Dakar, Senegal, 1914 – Gregory Valdespino 35. Urban transformation and public health policies in post-influenza Lagos, Nigeria, 1918 – Timothy Oluseyi Odeyale 36. Urban landscape transformations and the malaria control scheme in Mauritius, 1948–51 – Nicole de Lalouvière Epilogue: Post-COVID urbanism and architecture – Richard J. Jackson Glossary Bibliography Authors’ biographies Index

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Book SynopsisWhat's odd, scary, incredible and wonderful all at the same time? Our planet!Dive into the facts all about our planet's most deadly diseases and their curious cures! You won't believe your eyes... or will you?

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Book SynopsisThe Great Irish Famine claimed the lives of one million people, mainly from the lower classes. More than a million others fled the stricken land between 1845 and 1851. In recent decades, its history has become the focus of considerable scholarly and popular attention, but much remains to be retrieved and reconstructed, particularly at the level of the rural poor. This book fills that gap. It is based on a large volume of reports on social conditions in the Irish localities, emanating from within those localities, that has never been used systematically by historians. It bears the compelling title of the ‘Death Census’. Most historians are simply unaware of its existence. The outstanding feature of the Death Census is that it was authored by local clergymen who lived among the people they served and were intimately involved with their lives. This book brings the Death Census together in composite form for the first time and provides a detailed examination of its contents. The result is new understanding of the Great Famine as it was experienced on the ground.Trade Review‘This volume provides both a new source for determining the level of tragic local deaths as a result of the Great Famine and a brilliantly new way of evaluating the ameliorative efforts of the United Kingdom government. Famine studies will be significantly changed in light of this radical study’ —Professor Donald H. Akenson.‘Based on 100 eyewitness statements, amounting to almost 50,000 words of testimony, the death census of 1847 demonstrates that there are still sources to be recovered that add depth and nuance to our understanding of the tragedy known as the Great Famine. Stunning research by four accomplished scholars’ —Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University, USA.‘This book is a wonderful resource for all those who want to learn more about the most important event in Irish history. The Catholic clergy who prepared the reports were uniquely well placed to document the devastation across the country in Black ’47. The Death Census enables readers to drill down into the local experience of Ireland’s Great Famine using this unique source to understand how the catastrophe affected ordinary people in communities across the country in the late 1840s.’ —Professor Enda Delaney, University of Edinburgh, UK.Table of ContentsList of Figures, Tables, and Maps; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I, Chapter One The Great Famine; Chapter Two The Death Census of 1847; Chapter Three The Politics of Famine Mortality; Chapter Four Estimates of Famine Mortality in the Death Census; Chapter Five Eyewitness Accounts of Black ’47; Chapter Six Famine, Priests and People; Part II, Chapter Seven The Death Census: Testimony in Context; Bibliography; Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the most wide-ranging series of essays ever published on the Great Irish Famine, and will prove of lasting interest to the general reader. Leading historians, economists and geographers – from Ireland, Britain and the United States – have assembled the most up-to-date research from a wide spectrum of disciplines including medicine, folklore and literature, to give the fullest account yet of the background and consequences of the Famine. Contributors include Dr Kevin Whelan, Professor Mary Daly, Professor James Donnelly and Professor Cormac Ó Gráda. The Great Irish Famine was the first major series of essays on the Famine published in Ireland for almost fifty years.Table of ContentsIrish landscapes - before and after the Famine, Kevin Wheelan; politics in Famine Ireland, Sean Connelly; Irish famines before the Great Famine, David Dickson; food and famine, Margaret Crawford; disease and death, Lawrence Geery; inside the mind of government, Peter Grey; the Poor Laws, Christine Kinealy; relief schemes, Mary Daly; the stigma of souperism, Irene Wheelan; evictions and clearances, Jim Donnelly; emigration and the social order, David Fitzpatrick; the persistence of famine, Tim O'Neil; folk memory and the Famine, Cathal Poirteir; the Great Famine - today's Famine, Cormac O'Grada; famine in West Cork, Fr Patrick Hickey.

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Book Synopsis"Swords and lances, arrows, machine guns and even high explosives have had far less power over the fate of nations than the typhus louse, the plague flea and the yellow-fever mosquito." Both shocking and entertaining, this masterpiece of popular science writing tells the tragic story of the struggle between humanity and its humble but deadly enemies, the organisms of disease. Zinsser shows how infectious disease simply represented an attempt of a living organism to survive. While from the human perspective an invading pathogen was abnormal, from the perspective of the pathogen it was perfectly normal. From the pestilence which contributed to the downfall of Rome to the dancing manias of medieval Europe, the aristocracy’s fashion for wearing wigs and the role of typhus in the First World War, Zinsser reveals just how disease and epidemics have shaped human history.Trade Review'A fascinating blend of scientific and historical research, humour and stimulating opinion on almost every subject of interest to this contemporary world' British Medical Journal'A superb book... a classic work' David Bellamy'In the course of his darting and discursive narrative his imaginations take him into strange places in human souls and philosophies' Observer

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Book SynopsisMarried as a child bride to Nathan, a tenant farmer she had never met, Rukmani works side by side in the fields with her husband to wrest a living from a land ravaged by droughts, monsoons, and insects. With fortitude and courage, she fights poverty and disaster. Written over 70 years ago, Nectar in a Sieve is as relevant now as when it was first published. The story of Rukmani and Nathan is the story of many Indian farmers yesterday and today. This new edition introduces a new generation of readers to a tragic tale made all the more relevant as temperatures soar in India and working the land becomes more and more challenging.Trade ReviewReview for The Nowhere Man in 2019, 'For the last 20 years of her life, Kamala Markandaya couldn't get published and went out of print. Generations of readers lost out in reading this gem. Now I hope it will find its place in literary history' [Booker prize-winner Bernadine Evaristo]

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Book SynopsisThis book explores modern representations of the Black Death, a medieval pandemic. The concept of cultural memory is used to examine the ways in which journalists, writers of fiction, scholars and others referred to, described and explained the Black Death from around 1800 onwards. The distant medieval past was often used to make sense of aspects of the present, from the cholera pandemics of the nineteenth-century to the climate crisis of the early twenty-first century. A series of overlapping myths related to the Black Death emerged based only in part on historical evidence. Cultural memory circulates in a variety of media from the scholarly article to the video game and online video clip, and the connections and differences between mediated representations of the Black Death are considered. The Black Death is one of the most well-known aspects of the medieval world, and this study of its associated memories and myths reveals the depth and complexity of interactions between the distant and recent past.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Rediscovering the Black Death3. The Black Death and Englishness4. Plague in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries5. The Black Death and War in the Mid-Twentieth Century6. New Explanatory Frameworks and Black Death Forgetting7. Imagining Victory Over the Black Death8. Denial, Climate Change and New Evidence about the Black Death9. Conclusion

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Book Synopsis RecordCovid19. Historicizing Experiences of the Pandemic provides insights into the experience of the Covid19 pandemic from an historical and sociological perspective. Using the first-hand testimonies submitted as part of the #RecordCovid19 project as its inspiration, the chapters in this edited collection explore and contextualise the initial responses to the Covid19 pandemic. The collection examines people’s relationships with Covid19 as an historical event, including their own experiences of living through history; their relationship with their surroundings, including their relationships with family, the soundscapes and the emotional environments of a pandemic world; the impact and tone of political rhetoric, including the use (and misuse) of wartime myths and language in the United Kingdom; and finally, what lessons can be learnt from how people discuss their own personal stories and what lessons can we draw from previous examples of storytelling in moments of crisis. The result is a fascinating and rich discussion derived from an archive full of idiosyncratic experiences of life changing during the Covid19 pandemic.

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