Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History

by Kyle Harper Narrated by Tim Fannon

Overview

A sweeping germ's-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics
Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity's uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our
evolutionary past, and why its growth is acceleratedby technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health,
power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity's escape from infectious disease-a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases.
Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity's path to control over
infectious disease-one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally
interdependent-and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself.
Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

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

Choice

"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."

Forbes

"[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."

Inquisitive Biologist

"This magnificent book stood out as much for its nuance and academic rigour as it did for its readability."

Prospect

"Magisterial."

Kirkus Reviews

2021-07-14
A survey of infectious disease as an agent in shaping human history.

In a well-conceived, somewhat overlong example of what the renowned biologist E.O. Wilson calls consilience, classics professor 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. “The dominance of Homo sapiensover its microbial enemies is astonishingly recent,” he writes. Until the 19th century, most people died of microbial diseases such as the bubonic plague and cholera, and only when societies set aside other priorities and performed such collective enterprises as draining swamps and installing sewers did the death toll fall and human life extend past 35 or so. Those mortality patterns, Harper writes, have a chicken-and-egg aspect. By enhancing human capital with workers who don’t die before they’ve mastered their trades, they add wealth to society, and adding wealth provides the wherewithal to combat diseases and augment human capital. Harper writes appreciatively of what has been called the “Great Escape,” by which human societies have thus unhooked themselves from the devastating effects of plague—though plague always manages to sneak back into the picture, as the recent pandemic has demonstrated. The author turns up intriguing tidbits in his travels through the literature, such as the fact that humans are unusually susceptible to viruses that seem to have evolved specifically to target us. “Our chimpanzee cousins,” he writes, “who live in the jungle, eat raw monkey for breakfast, never bathe, and make a habit of chewing on their own feces, endure only a fraction of the viral diversity that we do.” Harper ventures that we may in fact be weaker by virtue of having tamed so many epidemic diseases. Interestingly, he also locates the origins of many public health practices of today in the Middle Ages through institutions that grew as urban centers did.

Harper’s long-view study is a welcome addition to the spate of recent books on epidemic disease.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173163189
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	12/15/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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