Plagues Upon the Earth (eBook)

Disease and the Course of Human History

Kyle Harper (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2021
704 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-22472-5 (ISBN)

Infos

A sweeping germ's-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemicsPlagues 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 accelerated by 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 diseasea 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 diseaseone 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 interdependentand 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.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.10.2021
• Reihe/Serie: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
• Reihe/Serie: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
• Zusatzinfo: 45 b/w illus. 20 maps.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Infektiologie / Immunologie
• Schlagworte: Agriculture • Agriculture (Chinese mythology) • Amoebic dysentery • Ancient DNA • anemia • Angus Deaton • annoyance • Anthrax • Antonine Plague • Bacillary dysentery • Bacteria • balance of nature • bed bug • Big History • Biological agent • bioterrorism • Black Death • blight • Blood-borne disease • brain fever • bubonic plague • Cause of Death • Cellulose • Chagas Disease • Child Mortality • Chimpanzee • Cholera • chronic condition • Chronology • climate change • Consilience • Consilience (book) • countermeasure • Creative Destruction • Dead on arrival • Death • defecation • deforestation • dementia • Demography • Diarrhea • diphtheria • disaster • Disease • disease burden • disease ecology • Diseases of poverty • Disfigurement • Disinfectant • domestication • Domestication of the horse • Drought • dysentery • ecological imperialism • ecological niche • Ecology • Emaciation • Emergence • Endemic (epidemiology) • Environmental Degradation • environmental protection • E. O. Wilson • Epidemic • Epidemic typhus • extinction event • famine • Famine in India • feudalism • Fossil fuel • fowl cholera • fungus • gangrene • Genome, Viral • Geography • Global burden of disease • global catastrophic risk • Global Health • Globalization • gonorrhea • Great Famine (Ireland) • habitat destruction • Health • Host (biology) • human pathogen • Hunter-Gatherer • Infection • Influenza • Influenza pandemic • insect • insecticide • Iron Age • Leprosy • leptospirosis • Louis Pasteur • Lymph Node • Malaise • Malaria • Malnutrition • Malthusian catastrophe • mass grave • measles • meat • Microorganism • Microparasite • mortality rate • Murine typhus • natural disaster • necrosis • negative feedback • Neolithic revolution • Onchocerciasis • organism • Origin Story • outbreak • Pandemic • Paratyphoid fever • pathogen • Pathology • Pest (organism) • Phylogenetics • physical geography • Plague cross • Plague of Justinian • Plagues and Peoples • Pneumonic Plague • Poliomyelitis • Population decline • Prevalence • Protozoa • Protozoan infection • Public Health • Pus • Racism • refrigeration • Reproduction • Rift Valley Fever • Risk • RNA • Root Cause • scarlet fever • Schistosomiasis • scurvy • Second plague pandemic • Sepsis • Septicemic Plague • Shattering (agriculture) • Sickle-cell disease • Slavery • Smallpox • sore throat • State Formation • steamship • Stem rust • Taxon • Technology • The General Crisis • The Great Influenza • Third plague pandemic • Thucydides • Total War • Toxin • Tuberculosis • typhoid fever • Typhus • ulcer • Unintended Consequences • urbanization • Vaccination • Vaccine • Vegetable • Virus • Visceral Leishmaniasis • vulnerability • Vulnerability (computing) • war • warfare • whole genome sequencing • Yellow fever
• ISBN-10: 0-691-22472-2 / 0691224722
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-22472-5 / 9780691224725