
A History of the World in Six Plagues
How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to Covid-19
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Veronique Olin
-
By:
-
Edna Bonhomme
About this listen
A deeply reported, insightful, and literary account of humankind’s battles with epidemic disease, and their outsized role in deepening inequality along racial, ethnic, class, and gender lines—in the vein of Medical Apartheid and Killing the Black Body.
Epidemic diseases enter the world by chance, but they become catastrophic by human design.
With clear-eyed research and lush prose, A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health.
Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme’s examination of humanity’s disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease. Based on in-depth research and cultural analysis, Bonhomme explores Cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, Sleeping Sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19 amidst the backdrop of unequal public policy. But much more than a remarkable history, A History of the World in Six Plagues is also a rising call for change.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Banned Books
- The World's Most Controversial Books, Past, and Present
- By: DK
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Banned Books explores why some of the world's most important literary classics and seminal non-fiction titles were once deemed too controversial for the public—whether for challenging racial or sexual norms, satirizing public figures, or simply being deemed unfit for young audiences. From the banning of All Quiet on the Western Front and the repeated suppression of On the Origin of the Species, to the uproar provoked by Lady Chatterley's Lover, entries offer a fascinating chronological account of censorship.
-
-
Important topic
- By Nick on 04-16-24
By: DK
-
"You Are Not Expected to Understand This"
- How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World
- By: Torie Bosch - editor, Ellen Ullman - introduction, Kelly Chudler
- Narrated by: Emily Schwing, Mack Sanderson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few of us give much thought to computer code or how it comes to be. The very word “code” makes it sound immutable or even inevitable. “You Are Not Expected to Understand This” demonstrates that, far from being preordained, computer code is the result of very human decisions, ones we all live with when we use social media, take photos, drive our cars, and engage in a host of other activities.
-
-
Erudite yet oh so tractable
- By Don Stewart on 01-09-23
By: Torie Bosch - editor, and others
-
The Ideological Brain
- The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking
- By: Leor Zmigrod
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leor Zmigrod reveals the deep connection between political beliefs and the biology of the brain. Drawing on her own pioneering research, she uncovers the complex interplay between biology and environment that predisposes some individuals to rigid ways of thinking, and explains how ideologies take hold of our brains, fundamentally changing the way we think, act and interact with others.
-
-
interesting historical survey
- By C. Tilney on 04-03-25
By: Leor Zmigrod
-
Cults Like Us
- Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America
- By: Jane Borden
- Narrated by: Jane Borden
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the Mayflower sidled up to Plymouth Rock, cult ideology has been ingrained in the DNA of the United States. In this eye-opening book, journalist Jane Borden argues that Puritan doomsday belief never went away; it went secular and became American culture. From our fascination with cowboys and superheroes to our allegiance to influencers and self-help, susceptibility to advertising, and undying devotion to the self-made man, Americans remain particularly vulnerable to a specific brand of cult-like thinking.
By: Jane Borden
-
33 Place Brugmann
- A Novel
- By: Alice Austen
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Jilly Bond, Nicholas Boulton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever. Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer’s family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.
-
-
A wonderful book
- By iggynut on 04-12-25
By: Alice Austen
-
Kate & Frida
- A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books
- By: Kim Fay
- Narrated by: Kelsey Jaffer, Ines del Castillo
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twentysomething Frida Rodriguez arrives in Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But then she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, and receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she wants to become.
-
-
A fantastic Book ! Don’t Miss It!
- By sharon on 05-02-25
By: Kim Fay
-
Banned Books
- The World's Most Controversial Books, Past, and Present
- By: DK
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Banned Books explores why some of the world's most important literary classics and seminal non-fiction titles were once deemed too controversial for the public—whether for challenging racial or sexual norms, satirizing public figures, or simply being deemed unfit for young audiences. From the banning of All Quiet on the Western Front and the repeated suppression of On the Origin of the Species, to the uproar provoked by Lady Chatterley's Lover, entries offer a fascinating chronological account of censorship.
-
-
Important topic
- By Nick on 04-16-24
By: DK
-
"You Are Not Expected to Understand This"
- How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World
- By: Torie Bosch - editor, Ellen Ullman - introduction, Kelly Chudler
- Narrated by: Emily Schwing, Mack Sanderson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few of us give much thought to computer code or how it comes to be. The very word “code” makes it sound immutable or even inevitable. “You Are Not Expected to Understand This” demonstrates that, far from being preordained, computer code is the result of very human decisions, ones we all live with when we use social media, take photos, drive our cars, and engage in a host of other activities.
-
-
Erudite yet oh so tractable
- By Don Stewart on 01-09-23
By: Torie Bosch - editor, and others
-
The Ideological Brain
- The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking
- By: Leor Zmigrod
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leor Zmigrod reveals the deep connection between political beliefs and the biology of the brain. Drawing on her own pioneering research, she uncovers the complex interplay between biology and environment that predisposes some individuals to rigid ways of thinking, and explains how ideologies take hold of our brains, fundamentally changing the way we think, act and interact with others.
-
-
interesting historical survey
- By C. Tilney on 04-03-25
By: Leor Zmigrod
-
Cults Like Us
- Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America
- By: Jane Borden
- Narrated by: Jane Borden
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the Mayflower sidled up to Plymouth Rock, cult ideology has been ingrained in the DNA of the United States. In this eye-opening book, journalist Jane Borden argues that Puritan doomsday belief never went away; it went secular and became American culture. From our fascination with cowboys and superheroes to our allegiance to influencers and self-help, susceptibility to advertising, and undying devotion to the self-made man, Americans remain particularly vulnerable to a specific brand of cult-like thinking.
By: Jane Borden
-
33 Place Brugmann
- A Novel
- By: Alice Austen
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Jilly Bond, Nicholas Boulton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever. Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer’s family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.
-
-
A wonderful book
- By iggynut on 04-12-25
By: Alice Austen
-
Kate & Frida
- A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books
- By: Kim Fay
- Narrated by: Kelsey Jaffer, Ines del Castillo
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twentysomething Frida Rodriguez arrives in Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But then she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, and receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she wants to become.
-
-
A fantastic Book ! Don’t Miss It!
- By sharon on 05-02-25
By: Kim Fay
-
The Evolution of Religions
- A History of Related Traditions
- By: Lance Grande
- Narrated by: James R. Cheatham
- Length: 27 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thousands of religions have adherents today, and countless more have existed throughout history. What accounts for this astonishing diversity? This extraordinarily ambitious and comprehensive book demonstrates how evolutionary systematics and philosophy can yield new insight into the development of organized religion. Lance Grande—a leading evolutionary systematist—examines the growth and diversification of hundreds of religions over time, highlighting their historical interrelationships.
By: Lance Grande
-
The Milky Way
- An Autobiography of Our Galaxy
- By: Moiya McTier
- Narrated by: Moiya McTier
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it. It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Erin Eagles on 09-03-22
By: Moiya McTier
-
King of the North
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South
- By: Jeanne Theoharis
- Narrated by: Jasmin Walker
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South. But in this myth-shattering book, award-winning and New York Times bestselling historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King's time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—outside Dixie—was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice. King of the North follows King as he crisscrosses the country from the Northeast to the West Coast, challenging school segregation, police brutality, housing segregation, and job discrimination.
By: Jeanne Theoharis
-
Birds, Sex and Beauty
- The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: Matt Ridley
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In all animals, mating is a deal. But few creatures behave as if sex is a simple, even mutually beneficial, transaction. Many more treat it with reverence, suspicion, angst, and violence. In the case of the Black Grouse, the bird at the center of Matt Ridley’s investigation, the males dance and sing for hours a day, for several exhausting months, in an arduous and even deadly ritual called a “lek.” To prepare for the ordeal, they grow, preen and display fancy, twisted, bold-colored feathers. When achieved, consummation with a female takes seconds.
By: Matt Ridley
-
When the Earth Was Green
- Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
- By: Riley Black
- Narrated by: Wren Mack
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riley Black brings us back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides listeners along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present.
-
-
AMAZING-READ QUEER BOOKS
- By Grace Haws on 04-23-25
By: Riley Black
-
The Illusion of Choice
- 16½ Psychological Biases That Influence What We Buy
- By: Richard Shotton
- Narrated by: Simon Cole
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every day, people make hundreds of choices. Many of these are commercial: What shampoo to pick? How much to spend on a bottle of wine? Whether to renew a subscription. These choices might appear to be freely made, but psychologists have shown that subtle changes in the way products are positioned, promoted, and marketed can radically alter how customers behave.
-
-
Where is the accompanying PDF? It is not in the audible app!
- By AmazonShopper214 on 08-31-23
By: Richard Shotton
-
Funny Because It's True
- How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire
- By: Christine Wenc
- Narrated by: Christine Wenc
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1988, a band of University of Wisconsin–Madison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than “You Are Dumb.” Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news. The Onion served as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon.
-
-
Her lack of knowledge.
- By Anonymous User on 04-20-25
By: Christine Wenc
-
No Less Strange or Wonderful
- Essays in Curiosity
- By: A. Kendra Greene
- Narrated by: A. Kendra Greene
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated author and artist A. Kendra Greene’s No Less Strange or Wonderful is a brilliant and generous meditation—on the complex wonder of being alive, on how to pay attention to even the tiniest (sometimes strangest) details that glitter with insight, whimsy, and deep humanity, if only we’d really look. In twenty-six sparkling essays, Greene is trying to make sense—of anything, really—but especially the things that matter most in life: love, connection, death, grief, the universe, meaning, nothingness, and everythingness.
By: A. Kendra Greene
-
Plagues upon the Earth
- Disease and the Course of Human History
- By: Kyle Harper
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues all around us, in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality.
-
-
Waste of time...endless dribble.
- By Kathleen A. Massey on 12-29-21
By: Kyle Harper
-
Shatterproof
- How to Thrive in a World of Constant Chaos (and Why Resilience Alone Isn't Enough)
- By: Tasha Eurich
- Narrated by: Tasha Eurich
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We’ve been taught that resilience is the secret to navigating life’s most difficult moments. According to New York Times bestselling author and organizational psychologist Dr. Tasha Eurich, there is just one problem with this assumption. Scientifically, resilience isn’t an unlimited resource, especially with the growing pressure, uncertainty, and chaos we’re experiencing today. But what if, instead of merely “bouncing back” from stressors and setbacks, we could harness them for forward growth?
By: Tasha Eurich
-
Polio
- An American Story
- By: David M. Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This comprehensive and gripping narrative, which received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for history, covers all the challenges, characters, and controversies in America's relentless struggle against polio. Funded by philanthropy and grassroots contributions, Salk's killed-virus vaccine (1954) and Sabin's live-virus vaccine (1961) began to eradicate this dreaded disease.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 07-22-08
-
The Instability of Truth
- Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion
- By: Rebecca Lemov
- Narrated by: Patty Nieman
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Because brainwashing affects both the world and our observation of the world, we often don’t recognize it while it’s happening—unless we know where to look. As Rebecca Lemov writes in The Instability of Truth, “Brainwashing erases itself.” What we call brainwashing is more common than we think; it is not so much what happens to other people as what can happen to anyone.
By: Rebecca Lemov