Plague, Pox and Pestilence: Disease in History Essay

The book ‘Plague, Pox and Pestilence’ is an interesting and complete survey of epidemics and diseases, which have occurred in the past. The book was written by a historian, and it contains a lot of detailed information that puts the progression of various epidemics into view, as they relate to societies that are in their developing stages. Western imperialism, Western elites, Western religions, and Western medicine have made these epidemics even more dreadful. Throughout the text, short contemporary reports are shown, which suggest that these epidemics have had an enormous impact on society, especially during the peak of their outbreaks. The book is also aesthetically illustrated with a lot of engravings, drawings and photographs that were collected from plenty of sources. â€Å"Some of the sources used for this book back as far as the 15th century. Although not a â€Å"hard† science book, it should be of enormous interest to all microbiologists. Its size and appearance suggest that the book is aimed at the â€Å"coffee table† to which it would be an interesting if somewhat gruesome addition. † Westwell, J. The book ‘Plague, Pox and Pestilence’ is an interesting read because it brings into focus, the pathogenic killers diseases of the developing world (bubonic plague, leprosy, smallpox, syphilis, cholera, and the tropical fevers, malaria and yellow fever. ) About the Author. Kenneth Kiple is the author of the book ‘plague, pox and pestilence’ He has written several other books including the book ‘Black Yellow Fever Immunities, Innate and Acquired, as Revealed in the American South, A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization (2007), Contemporary Authors: (1939), The Caribbean Slave: A Biological History (Studies in Environment and History) (2002), Blacks in Colonial Cuba (1976), The African Exchange: Toward a Biological History of Black People (1988), The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (1993), Another Dimension to the Black Diaspora: Diet, Disease and Racism (2003), The Cambridge World History of Food (2000), The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease (2003), and Stone agers in the fast lane? Today’s health and yesterday’s nutrition (University professor lecture series) (1995). He has also written several book reviews, including an article on Malaria: Poverty, Race, and Public Health in the United States, which was published in the Journal of Southern History on the 31st of July, 2005. Book Summary. The book ‘Plague, Pox and Pestilence: Disease in History’ states that epidemics have had an enormous impact on society, especially during the peak of their outbreaks. The book also tries to remind the reader of the larger problem of the consequences of allowing disease and pestilence to multiply, without checking their spread in time. The author succeeds in showing that epidemics have had an enormous impact on society and its development. The book also observes that it is unlikely that most pandemics would have become anything more than an epidemic without the modern methods of transportation. For example, Cholera â€Å"unlike other diseases that require human transportation, can exist outside the human body. † (Kiple, K. F. 1997). It is a bacterium and under the microscope it is shaped like a comma. It only affects humans. Epidemiologists believe that it evolved in the Ganges Delta region and until the modern era, was isolated to that area. Until the arrival of Europeans and their technological transportation inventions including railroads, steamships and canals, cholera had been restricted to India. For this reason, Cholera has been called a disease of the 19th century. Anyone having contact with an individual suffering from this ailment, his soiled bedding, clothing, or infected water sources was a potential victim and transporter of the disease. In its most virulent form, cholera’s death rates were, and are, over 50% for adults and overwhelmingly fatal for the elderly, infants, and the otherwise infirmed. (Kiple, K. F. 1997). The book also enlightens about the mortality rate of diseases like cholera, and about the fears and superstitions of a disease like cholera in the developing parts of the world, and the effects of such superstitions. With great justification, Cholera was perceived as a demonic, evil and foreign force similar if not worse than smallpox or the plague. In its most virulent forms, it was a highly efficient killer and often resulted in a 50% mortality rate among its healthy adult victims. Deaths in India between 1817 and 1860 are generally considered to have exceeded 15,000,000 persons. Another 23,000,000 died between 1865 and 1917. (Kiple, K. F. 1997). The author’s work has made a contribution to the academic community herein because the work succeeded in creating an awareness of diseases and the importance of controlling disease, so as to stop the growth of illness, especially among people in developing countries.