Epidemics and the Modern World explores the relationships between epidemics and key themes in modern history. Our institutions, colonial structures, relationships to animals, and perceptions of suffering, sexuality, race, and disability have all shaped - and been shaped by - these significant medical events.

This book uses "biographies" of epidemics such as plague, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS to explore the impact of disease on the development of modern societies from the fourteenth century to the present. Drawing on the most recent science of genetics, microbiology, and climatology, this text includes "Science Focus" boxes that discuss important scientific concepts and technologies. Structured workshop sections with engaging primary sources help readers develop skills of interpretation and gain knowledge of key historical events.

Epidemics and the Modern World assumes no prior experience with the history of science or medicine and is accessible for undergraduate students, while its challenging approach to the history of the modern world will engage readers of all levels and all interests.

About the Author
Mitchell L Hammond is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Victoria.

Reviews
"Epidemics and the Modern World is both an excellent reference for non-specialist scholars and an introduction to the modern history of medicine for advanced students and generalist audiences. Most helpfully, the author places medical terminology in bold and includes a glossary of terms at the end of the book, including primary sources for discussion throughout the text." -- Louie Dean Valencia-Garcia * Europe Now April 2020 *
"Mitchell Hammond's excellent survey of a dozen deadly diseases is a must-read primer to make sense of epidemic history. In Epidemics and the Modern World, he balances the science of disease etiology and disease cycles with political, socio-economic, and cultural contexts. Read this book!" -- Michael G. Vann * New Books Network March 2021 *
"The primary intended audience for this book is clearly the undergraduate student, but anyone looking for a single-volume synthesis on the history of infectious disease would find tremendous value in this book." -- Jim Harris, Ohio State University * Social History of Medicine *
"This is an excellent publication that comes at exactly the right time and will have a great influence on how the inevitably increasing number of courses on this topic will be taught. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone teaching or studying for a course in this field and am myself planning to use it next term." -- Jakob Lehne, Medical University of Vienna * Canadian Bulletin of Medical History *
"Epidemics and the Modern World is a masterful treatment of the complex relationship between humans and pathogens from a truly holistic perspective." -- Taylor P. van Doren, University of Missouri * World Medical & Health Policy *



Book Information
ISBN 9781487593735
Author Mitchell Hammond
Format Paperback
Page Count 536
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 1230g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 191mm * 28mm