Armies of Pestilence:The Impact of Disease on History
Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 5 months ago to Books
Perhaps a relevant book today- from Amazon description
by R. S. Bray (Author)
Infectious diseases put an end to the Golden Age of Athens, wrecked Justinian the Great's dream of restoring the Roman Empire to its former glory, and played the major role in virtually eliminating the Indians from North America. Yet, historians have minimized the role of infectious diseases---partly because they lack scientific knowledge of the diseases themselves. The result has been a distorted view of the past. Armies of Pestilence---the work of the distinguished biologist R.S. Bray, who here proves himself also an able historian---goes far toward correcting this view. Dr. Bray surveys the principal epidemics in all countries from biblical times almost to the present, in each case discussing the origins of the outbreak, the symptoms, the mortality rate, and the social and economic effects. Where the disease cannot be certainly identified---as in the case of the plague in Athens---he reviews the best scholarly opinions and weighs them judiciously. Bray gives special attention tot he infamous Yersina Pestis, the organism that caused both the plague of Justinian and the Black Death. He also includes multiple chapters on malaria, smallpox, typhus, cholera, and influenza. One of his themes is the role of war in spreading diseases that have often killed more people than the battles themselves. With AIDS devastating Africa today, and the threat of old infectious diseases returning in mutated form, Armies of Pestilence---one of the most revelatory works of history ever published---is surely one of the timeliest as well.
by R. S. Bray (Author)
Infectious diseases put an end to the Golden Age of Athens, wrecked Justinian the Great's dream of restoring the Roman Empire to its former glory, and played the major role in virtually eliminating the Indians from North America. Yet, historians have minimized the role of infectious diseases---partly because they lack scientific knowledge of the diseases themselves. The result has been a distorted view of the past. Armies of Pestilence---the work of the distinguished biologist R.S. Bray, who here proves himself also an able historian---goes far toward correcting this view. Dr. Bray surveys the principal epidemics in all countries from biblical times almost to the present, in each case discussing the origins of the outbreak, the symptoms, the mortality rate, and the social and economic effects. Where the disease cannot be certainly identified---as in the case of the plague in Athens---he reviews the best scholarly opinions and weighs them judiciously. Bray gives special attention tot he infamous Yersina Pestis, the organism that caused both the plague of Justinian and the Black Death. He also includes multiple chapters on malaria, smallpox, typhus, cholera, and influenza. One of his themes is the role of war in spreading diseases that have often killed more people than the battles themselves. With AIDS devastating Africa today, and the threat of old infectious diseases returning in mutated form, Armies of Pestilence---one of the most revelatory works of history ever published---is surely one of the timeliest as well.
I say "de facto" because Obama's father was a British colonial subject, and that's enough to disqualify him.
asserting that malnutrition does not cause increased
susceptibility to disease ... and, having once been
diagnosed as malnourished, I would tend to agree
that this is a salient point. low Mg was the biggie.
still, this area of study is horribly lacking these days,
it appears, and with ebola wrecking the world, we
should surely pay attention!!! -- j
And the second factor was the discovery of Penicillin which saved many a life and many a limb.
If anyone really wants to get an idea about how tragic a situation a pestilence can create try reading -The Plague by Camus. Incredible!
In the physical realm we have some glimmering of how these deadly organisms affect human survival. Now imagine certain ideas and beliefs (memes) as parallel infestations in the mental realm. They, too, grow to malignant extremes that require the physical destruction of the hosts. We need conceptual antibiotics as well. Sadly, we are suffering from a plague of unreason today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germ...
we are in for a more traumatic two years than the last 6.
the level of violence between blacks and whom ever will increase, disease will increase, and the world problems will increase all in my opinion because our nation chose to put in the oval office a man who we have seen hates what the USA has stood for for over 200 years. his legacy will not be very good since his only accomplishment has been an attempt to destroy the USA.
http://www.amazon.com/Disease-History-Fr...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles...