The savage wars of peace : England, Japan, and the Malthusian trap

This book aims to solve the problem of how parts of mankind escaped from an apparently inevitable trap of war, famine and disease in the last three hundred years. Through a detailed comparative analysis of English and Japanese history it explores such matters as the destruction of war, decline of famine, importance of certain drinks (especially tea), the use of human excrement and the effects of housing, clothing and bathing on human health. It also shows how the English and Japanese controlled fertility through marriage and sexual patterns, biological and contraceptive factors, abortion and infanticide. It proposes a new historical methodology through the examination of chains and causation. At one level this is a book of detection, trying to solve one of the great unsolved mysteries of history. At another it is a work of cultural transition, trying to explain the material and cultural underpinnings of East Asia (Japan) and Europe (England) through a long historical period. It thus combines history, anthropology, medicine and demography with a detailed use of contemporary sources such as traveller's accounts, diaries and medical texts Front Matter....Pages i-xxxv Introduction....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 The Malthusian Trap....Pages 11-24 Two Islands....Pages 25-36 Front Matter....Pages 37-37 Natural Environment, Culture and Human Labour....Pages 39-48 The Destruction of War....Pages 49-59 The Nature, Causes and Elimination of Famine....Pages 60-85 Food and Nutrition....Pages 86-104 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Dysentery, Typhoid, Cholera and the Water Supply....Pages 107-123 Drink: Milk, Water, Beer and Tea....Pages 124-153 Two Methods for the Disposal of Human Excrement....Pages 154-180 Front Matter....Pages 181-181 Vector-borne Diseases: Plague, Typhus and Malaria....Pages 183-204 Public Environs: Streets, Fields and Markets....Pages 205-217 Housing and Health....Pages 218-238 Textiles, Clothing and Footwear....Pages 239-250 Bodily Hygiene: Bathing and Washing....Pages 251-268 Changing Concepts of Dirt and Cleanliness....Pages 269-282 Front Matter....Pages 283-283 Air-borne Diseases: Smallpox, Measles and Tuberculosis....Pages 285-300 Front Matter....Pages 301-301 Fertility, Marriage and Sexual Relations....Pages 303-318 Biology and Contraception....Pages 319-332 Abortion and Infanticide....Pages 333-350 Front Matter....Pages 301-301 Strategies of Heirship....Pages 351-368 Front Matter....Pages 369-369 Design and Chance....Pages 371-390 Back Matter....Pages 391-427

thomas Malthus (1766-1834) Predicted That Population Would Continue To Increase Exponentially Unless Trimmed By Famine, Pestilence, And War. Macfarlane (anthropological Science, King's College) Explains How The Two Island Countries Managed To Escape The Predicament. He Adds A Substantial New Epilogue To The First Edition, Published By Blackwell In 1997, Setting Out Recent Thinking About The Issue. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or