The Power of Plagues / Edition 2

by Irwin W. Sherman

Overview

The Power of Plagues presents a rogues' gallery of epidemic- causing microorganisms placed in the context of world history. Author Irwin W. Sherman introduces the microbes that caused these epidemics and the people who sought (and still seek) to understand how diseases and epidemics are managed. What makes this book especially fascinating are the many threads that Sherman weaves together as he explains how plagues past and present have shaped the outcome of wars and altered the course of medicine, religion, education, feudalism, and science. Cholera gave birth to the field of epidemiology. The bubonic plague epidemic that began in 1346 led to the formation of universities in cities far from the major centers of learning (and hot spots of the Black Death) at that time. And the Anopheles mosquito and malaria aided General George Washington during the American Revolution. Sadly, when microbes have inflicted death and suffering, people have sometimes responded by invoking discrimination, scapegoating, and quarantine, often unfairly, against races or classes of people presumed to be the cause of the epidemic.

Pathogens are not the only stars of this book. Many scientists and physicians who toiled to understand, treat, and prevent these plagues are also featured. Sherman tells engaging tales of the development of vaccines, anesthesia, antiseptics, and antibiotics. This arsenal has dramatically reduced the suffering and death caused by infectious diseases, but these plague protectors are imperfect, due to their side effects or attenuation and because microbes almost invariably develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs.

The Power of Plagues provides a sobering reminder that plagues are not a thing of the past. Along with the persistence of tuberculosis, malaria, river blindness, and AIDS, emerging and remerging epidemics continue to confound global and national public health efforts. West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and Ebola and Zika viruses are just some of the newest rogues to plague humans.

The argument that civilization has been shaped to a significant degree by the power of plagues is compelling, and The Power of Plagues makes the case in an engaging and informative way that will be satisfying to scientists and non-scientists alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683670001
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	06/20/2017
Series:	ASM Books
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	1,053,470
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Irwin W. Sherman, Professor Emeritus at the University of California (Riverside),
is a Visiting Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. His laboratory research centered on the biochemistry of malaria parasites and resulted in more than 150 scholarly papers. Dr. Sherman wrote
Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World, also published by ASM Press, and several books that share his expertise in malaria prevention and treatment.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1. The Nature of Plagues 1

2. Plagues, the Price of Being Sedentary 23

3. Six Plagues of Antiquity 43

4. An Ancient Plague, the Black Death 67

5. A Modern Plague, AIDS 89

6. Typhus, A Fever Plague 117

7. Malaria, Another Fever Plague 135

8. King Cholera 159

9. Smallpox, The Spotted Plague 191

10. Preventing Plagues 211

11. The Plague Protectors 231

12. The Great Pox Syphilis 255

13. The People’s Plague: Tuberculosis 275

14. Leprosy, the Striking Hand of God 303

15. Six Plagues of Africa 313

16. Plagues without Germs 355

17. Plagues On Order 383

Appendix. Cells and Viruses 401

General Works on Disease and History 405

Notes 407

Index 419

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Susanna Von Essen, MD (University of Nebraska Medical Center )
Description: The author's goal with this book is to help readers understand the impact that outbreaks of disease have had on the course of history. He is skilled at summarizing complex political events and describing how plagues influenced the outcome. The book is written in an interesting style, but it would have been improved by having a person with a strong medical and public health background review the content. Important concepts, such as how control of latent tuberculosis prevents spread of the disease, are not mentioned.
Purpose: The purpose is to describe the nature and evolution of diseases and to show how the past can help us prepare for future encounters with infectious diseases. These are worthy objectives and the book will be of interest to the lay reader and might have a place in the curriculum of public health students. The book meets the author's objectives, although the facts of medical science as understood today are not always stated correctly.
Audience: Although the author does not describe the intended audience, one may assume that it consists of persons who do not have a strong medical background, because of the care taken to describe technical terms that a medical professional would already know. It is my impression that a well-educated lay audience is the main target of this book. If the description of the medical aspect of the diseases of interest were more accurate, this book would be suitable for use as a text for classes on public health topics.
Features: The book covers a broad range of diseases, with the common theme being the lessons to be learned from understanding what happened. It is written in an entertaining style. The photographic illustrations are chosen carefully and help explain the text. The description of historical events is brief but illustrates the point the author wants to make. The main shortcoming is the author's failure to check medical facts. In some cases, the error is minor but in at least one instance, an important point was missed.
Assessment: The quality of the book is moderately high. It makes history and medical science interesting and accessible for an audience that might not otherwise attempt to read about these topics. I'm not sure it should be used as a textbook unless its errors were to be corrected.

Doody's Review Service