Epidemics and Society

From the Black Death to the Present

De: Frank M. Snowden

Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin

A "brilliant and sobering" (Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal) look at the history and human costs of pandemic outbreaks

As seen on 60 Minutes

The World Economic Forum number one book for context on the coronavirus outbreak

This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today, and in a new preface addresses the global threat of COVID-19. In a clear and accessible style, Frank M. Snowden reveals the ways that diseases have not only influenced medical science and public health, but also transformed the arts, religion, intellectual history, and warfare.

A multidisciplinary and comparative investigation of the medical and social history of the major epidemics, this volume touches on themes such as the evolution of medical therapy, plague literature, poverty, the environment, and mass hysteria. In addition to providing historical perspective on diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and tuberculosis, Snowden examines the fallout from recent epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola and the question of the world's preparedness for the next generation of diseases.

©2019 Frank M. Snowden (P)2020 Tantor

Superb

Clear interesting narration, though just a bit clipped and overly correct.

Content is thorough, informative, fascinating description of ancient and mostly current pandemic diseases, their etiologies, and treatment.

In hardback form, this is an excellent reference.

History & facts presented in an interesting manner

Narrator was very good.
Subject matter is fascinating to me. It wasn't overly technical, since it is an historic presentation. It filled in gaps in my knowledge painlessly.

Better, more extensive, and deeper than expected

Years ago, I reserved what I thought would be a standard hotel room. Upon arriving, I was stunned to find myself on the top floor in a remarkable room. This book was a similar experience for me. I expected a fairly dry book focused on biomedical matters with just a bit of social context -- and I would have enjoyed that just fine. Instead, Professor Snowden provides an experience that is historical, literary, social, philosophical, and yes biomedical. His fascinating description of Napoleon's military history is just one example. Snowden manages to explore so many interesting topics within the context of a well-organized book while avoiding jargon. Dry? Not at all. Snowden's respect for his readers (listeners) is evident in a writing style that is thoroughly engaging and tightly logical.

Absolutely fascinating

This books is a fascinating look into the history of illness in our society - and how we have dealt with it as human beings. It shows that the chaos around COVID is nothing new.

Way, way better than I expected!

I had just finished "The Great Influenza" and wanted to learn more about some of the famous plagues and pandemics, and this looked like a pretty good source. It is a pretty massive book - over 20 hours. I thought, well, I'll just listed to the parts about the Black Death, smallpox, and maybe a bit more. I ended up listening to every single chapter! It really does cover disease AND society, and the book does a fantastic job of tying the two together in ways I was not prepared for, and for which I now have a much greater understanding. Covid had not appeared at the time of the writing, but everything we've seen during the last two years of this pandemic has echoes in the earlier experiences of influenza, cholera, TB, etc. People need to know this aspect of human history. The narration is a bit dry - very much like sitting in a university lecture hall - but it works well and held my interest.