The First Horseman: Disease in Human History (Connections Series for World History)

This text intends to emphasis to students that widespread, deadly disease is not a distant historical phenomenon, but a continuing threat to humanity. It explains the economic, political, social, and psychological problems that deadly diseases have caused in our past and the challenges we face currently and in the future. The importance of this study is emphasized by the author's last line in the text, "The history of disease will go on, despite once confident predictions of an end to epidemics in our times, and those who now wage the heroic struggle to find elusive cures to our new plagues may find that they have more to learn from the past than had once been thought." The Types And Causes Of Disease -- The Impact Of Disease -- Disease And The Historian -- The Spread Of Diseases -- Disease And Society -- A Eurasian Pandemic : The Black Death In Europe And The Middle East, 1347-1350 -- The Origins Of The Black Death -- What Was The Black Death? -- The Black Death As A Social Force -- The Spread Of The Black Death -- The Mortality Rate Of The Black Death -- A Turning Point In History? -- Contemporary Views Of The Black Death -- The Impact Of The Black Death -- American Holocaust : Smallpox In The Americas, 1518-1670 -- The Demographic Impact Of New Diseases In The Americas -- Smallpox : Its Early History And Manifestations -- Defenses Against Smallpox -- The Arrival Of Smallpox In The Americas -- The Impact Of New Diseases Upon American Indians -- The Native Populations Of The Americas -- Epidemics : Intentional Genocide Or Unintended Consequences? -- The Impact Of Disease On Native Culture -- Disease And The Birth Of Modern Medicine : Bubonic And Pneumonic Plague In India And China, 1896-1921 -- The Plague Breaks Out In India -- The British Raj's Response -- The Black Death And The Indian Plague -- Evidence Collection And Analysis -- Initial Colonial Policy And Native Resistance -- New Policies -- Lessons Learned -- The Plague Breaks Out In Manchuria -- Governmental Response -- A Modern Plague : Aids In Sub-saharan Africa, 1982 To The Present -- The Aids Victims Of Sub-saharan Africa -- The Disease's Characteristics -- Search For A Vaccine And Effective Therapies -- The Origin Of Aids -- Disease Transmission -- Aids As A Social Construct -- The Impact Of Aids -- Aids Compared With Past Pandemics -- The Extraordinary Aspects Of Aids In Sub-saharan Africa -- Making Connections. John Aberth. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 159-167) And Index. The history of disease is as old as the history of humankind, and the two are intimately intertwined. Through four case studies spanning more than 650 years, from the mid-fourteenth century to the early twenty-first century, John Aberth examines the effects of bubonie and pneumonic plague, smallpox, and AIDS in such widely scattered areas of the world as Western Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, India, China, and sub-Saharan Africa. The deadly cast of characters is constantly changing, but the devastation and often (but not always) the human reactions, social consequences, and political responses are surprisingly similar.If the study of world history has any utility, then the study of the manner in which diseases have ravaged human societies across the centuries and around the world should enable individuals to not only understand but to cope more wisely with the next epidemic. The history of diseases will go on, despite once-confident predictions of an end to epidemics in our times. Those who now wage the heroic struggle to find elusive cures to new plagues may find that they have more to learn from the past than had once been thought.