Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, Third Edition is a comprehensive A-to-Z reference offering international coverage of this timely and fascinating subject. This updated volume provides concise descriptions of more than 700.

The Power of Plagues presents a rogues' gallery of epidemic- causing microorganisms placed in the context of world history. Author Irwin W. Sherman introduces the microbes that caused these epidemics and the people who sought (and still seek) to understand how diseases and epidemics are managed. What makes this book especially fascinating are the many threads that Sherman weaves together as he explains how plagues past and present have shaped the outcome of wars and altered the course of medicine, religion, education, feudalism, and science. Cholera gave birth to the field of epidemiology. The bubonic plague epidemic that began in 1346 led to the formation of universities in cities far from the major centers of learning (and hot spots of the Black Death) at that time. And the Anopheles mosquito and malaria aided General George Washington during the American Revolution. Sadly, when microbes have inflicted death and suffering, people have sometimes responded by invoking discrimination, scapegoating, and quarantine, often unfairly, against races or classes of people presumed to be the cause of the epidemic. Pathogens are not the only stars of this book. Many scientists and physicians who toiled to understand, treat, and prevent these plagues are also featured. Sherman tells engaging tales of the development of vaccines, anesthesia, antiseptics, and antibiotics. This arsenal has dramatically reduced the suffering and death caused by infectious diseases, but these plague protectors are imperfect, due to their side effects or attenuation and because microbes almost invariably develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The Power of Plagues provides a sobering reminder that plagues are not a thing of the past. Along with the persistence of tuberculosis, malaria, river blindness, and AIDS, emerging and remerging epidemics continue to confound global and national public health efforts. West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and Ebola and Zika viruses are just some of the newest rogues to plague humans. The argument that civilization has been shaped to a significant degree by the power of plagues is compelling, and The Power of Plagues makes the case in an engaging and informative way that will be satisfying to scientists and non-scientists alike.

A plague is a disease that quickly and ruthlessly kills a vast number of people in a short period of time.This interesting title provides information on some of histories worst plagues.gReading age 11.5-12.5 yearsText Type: Information Report

Chronicles the history and mystery of several centuries of plague including bioweapons programs initiated by the former Soviet Union.

This engaging and timely collection analyses the impact of plagues, from early history to current medicine and the future. Featuring essays arising from the 2014 Darwin College Lectures, this book examines the spectrum of tragic consequences of different types of plagues, and asks if plagues are the manifestation of nature's checks and balances.

Until recently, plagues were thought to belong in the ancient past. Now there are deep worries about global pandemics. This book presents views from anthropology about this much publicized and complex problem. The authors take us to places where epidemics are erupting, waning, or gone, and to other places where they have not yet arrived, but where a frightening story line is already in place. They explore public health bureaucracies and political arenas where the power lies to make decisions about what is, and is not, an epidemic. They look back into global history to uncover disease trends and look ahead to a future of expanding plagues within the context of climate change. The chapters are written from a range of perspectives, from the science of modeling epidemics to the social science of understanding them. Patterns emerge when people are engulfed by diseases labeled as epidemics but which have the hallmarks of plague. There are cycles of shame and blame, stigma, isolation of the sick, fear of contagion, and end-of-the-world scenarios. Plague, it would seem, is still among us.

An absorbing look at the role of disease and health policy in the construction of race, gender, and class and in urban development in nineteenth- and twentieth-century San Francisco. "Craddock's provocative work offers an invaluable perspective on public health and the construction of race that speaks not only to the past but also to the present." -Bulletin of the History of Medicine "City of Plagues should fuel excitement and increase other geographers' notice of the remarkable work emanating from it. It simply and brilliantly traces how the often-argued triad of power/knowledge/space actually works in a particular place, at a particular time, and around a particular issue. Meticulous and nuanced." -Environment and Planning D: Society and Space "This book provides an engaging, readable, and well-researched account of the social, political, and medical responses to infectious diseases in San Francisco from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. A wealth of material is brought together to describe, in a geographical, historical, and cultural framework, the experience, among San Francisco's population, of diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases, plague, and, latterly, HIV and AIDS." -Environment and Planning A Susan Craddock is associate professor in the Department of Women's Studies and the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota.