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

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, a...

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Main Author: Bonhomme, Edna (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2025.
Edition:First One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover edition.
Subjects:
Communicable diseases > Political aspects > History.
Epidemics > History.
Plague > History.
Diseases and history.
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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.--
Physical Description:xxix, 286 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-265) and index.
ISBN:9781982197834
1982197838
Author Notes:Edna Bonhomme is a historian of science, culture writer, and book critic whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, The Atlantic , Esquire, Frieze magazine, The Guardian , The Nation , London Review of Books , The Washington Post , and more. She is coeditor of After Sex , a collection of essays, poems, and short stories. She earned a PhD from Princeton University, a master's degree from Columbia University, and a bachelor's degree from Reed College. She previously held fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Camargo Foundation, Baldwin for the Arts, and Nancy B. Negley Artists Residency Program at Maison Dora Maar. Edna is a recipient of the Robert Silvers Foundation Grant for Works in Progress and the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Grant.

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