A History of Population Health

Preface
List of illustrations

Chapter 1. Introduction
Utopia come true?
Rising life expectancy
The rise and fall of disease
The epidemiologic transition theory
The McKeown debate and the Preston-curve
The role of human agency
&;How to read this book
Concepts, sources, data and methods

PART I. LONG-TERM TRENDS: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW

Chapter 2. Long-term trends in population health
Changes in over-all population health
Declining mortality
Young and old, men and women
Regional and social inequalities
Rising height
More years in good health, more years in bad health?
Changes in disease patterns
Shifting causes of death
Shifts in the burden of disease
Diseases rise, diseases fall
Epidemiologic transition 2.0
A theory in need of repair
How: characterizing change
When: staging change
Where: locating change

Chapter 3. Understanding trends in population health
Theories of population health
An 'ecological-evolutionary theory' of the origins of disease
Explaining long-term change
Economic, political and sociocultural conditions
Economic history: improvements in living standards
Political history: the rise of the modern state
Sociocultural history: the lights go on
Public health and medical care
A short history of public health
The impact of public health
A short history of medical care
The Role of Medicine

PART II. ZOOMING IN: THE RISE AND FALL OF DISEASES

Chapter 4. Health problems of pre-industrial societies
Violence and hunger
War
Homicide
Famine
Great epidemics
Plague
Smallpox
Typhus
Malaria

Chapter 5. Health problems of industrializing societies
Communicable diseases
Cholera, dysentery, typhoid
Tuberculosis
Syphilis
Scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria
Pneumonia, influenza
Maternal, infant and perinatal mortality
Maternal mortality
Infant mortality
Still-births
Other health problems of industrializing societies

Johan P. Mackenbach is Professor of Public Health at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea, and has published widely on contemporary and historical health issues.

"[...] strengths of this excellent book include its meticulous and extensive documentation, transparent discussion of what data is and is not available, analysis of prevailing theoretical explanations, use of supplementary tables, and Mackenbach's clear and compelling writing. [...] Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers." - M. D. Lagerwey, Western Michigan University, in: Choice, February 2021 Vol. 58 No. 6
"Mackenbach's longue durée, Braudel-inspired, and erudite book wades into scholarly territory that will be familiar to readers of Journal of British Studies. [...] Mackenbach's book will provide an important starting point for future research on the role of politics and public health in curbing COVID-19." - Jacob Steere-Williams, College of Charleston, South Carolina, in: Journal of British Studies, Vol. 60 (3), 2021, 746-748 pp.