A history of the world in six plagues : how contagion, class, and captivity shaped us, from Cholera to COVID-19 / Edna Bonhomme.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bonhomme, Edna, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communicable diseases--Political aspects--History.

Communicable diseases.

Epidemics--History.

Epidemics.

Plague--History.

Plague.

Diseases and history.

Discrimination in medical care--History.

Discrimination in medical care.

Physical Description:

xxix, 286 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover edition.

Other Title:

History of the world in 6 plagues

How contagion, class, and captivity shaped us, from Cholera to COVID-19

Place of Publication:

New York : One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2025.

Summary:

Epidemic diseases enter the world by chance, but they become catastrophic by human design. With clear-eyed research and lush prose, A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health. Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme's examination of humanity's disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease. Based on in-depth research and cultural analysis, Bonhomme explores Cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, Sleeping Sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19 amidst the backdrop of unequal public policy. But much more than a remarkable history, A History of the World in Six Plagues is also a rising call for change.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contagion on the Plantation

The African Laboratory

Who's Afraid of the Flu?

Breaking the Walls of Silence

Ebola Town

Relentless

Locked up.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-265) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Gift of the Robert J. & Thelma E. Gill book fund.

Other Format:

Online version : Bonhomme, Edna. A history of the world in six plagues : how contagion, class, and captivity shaped us, from Cholera to COVID-19.

ISBN:

9781982197834

1982197838

OCLC:

1503502595