Disease and the Modern World / Themes in History (PDF)

'Mark Harrison's book illuminates the threats posed byinfectious diseases since 1500. He places these diseases within aninternational perspective, and demonstrates the relationshipbetween European expansion and changing epidemiological patterns.The book is a significant introduction to a fascinatingsubject.' Gerald N. Grob, Rutgers State University

In this lively and accessible book, Mark Harrison charts thehistory of disease from the birth of the modern world around 1500through to the present day. He explores how the rise of modernnation-states was closely linked to the threat posed by disease,and particularly infectious, epidemic diseases. He examines theways in which disease and its treatment and prevention, changedover the centuries, under the impact of the Renaissance and theEnlightenment, and with the advent of scientific medicine.

For the first time, the author integrates the history of diseasein the West with a broader analysis of the rise of the modernworld, as it was transformed by commerce, slavery, and colonialrule. Disease played a vital role in this process, easing Europeandomination in some areas, limiting it in others. Harrison goes onto show how a new environment was produced in which poverty andeducation rather than geography became the main factors in thedistribution of disease.

Assuming no prior knowledge of the history of disease,Disease and the Modern World provides an invaluableintroduction to one of the richest and most important areas ofhistory. It will be essential reading for all undergraduates andpostgraduates taking courses in the history of disease andmedicine, and for anyone interested in how disease has shaped, andhas been shaped by, the modern world.