Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511563645

From plague to AIDS, epidemics have been the most spectacular diseases to afflict human societies. This volume examines the way in which these great crises have influenced ideas, how they have helped to shape theological, political and social thought, and how they have been interpreted and understood in the intellectual context of their time.

‘Epidemics and Ideas shows how epidemics evoke a series of recognisable reactions and responses from society beyond the specifics of pathogen, place or time. It is a very modern book, which brings successfully together history, anthropology, sociology and other so-called social sciences with medicine, or at least with public health. It goes far beyond the earlier appreciation of the relationship between human society and diseases ... [and] brings a vast specialised literature about past epidemics and the response of society to them within reach of the general reader’.

Source: New Scientist

‘… a remarkable cohesive and delightfully variegated book that brings medical and biological history into firm and fruitful contact with intellectual and social history … This is, in short, a splendid book – subtle, informed, sophisticated and coherent. It shows how successfully the social history of epidemics has come of age in recent years’.

Source: The Journal of Social History

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Contents
pp v-vi
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Contributors
pp vii-viii
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Preface
pp ix-x
- By Terence Ranger, University of Oxford, Paul Slack, University of Oxford
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1 - Introduction
pp 1-20
- By Paul Slack, University of Oxford
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2 - Epidemic, ideas and classical Athenian society
pp 21-44
- By James Longrigg, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
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3 - Disease, dragons and saints: the management of epidemics in the Dark Ages
pp 45-76
- By Peregrine Horden, University of Oxford
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4 - Epidemic disease in formal and popular thought in early Islamic Society
pp 77-100
- By Lawrence I. Conrad, Wellcome Institute, London
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5 - Plague and perceptions of the poor in early modern Italy
pp 101-124
- By Brian Pullan, University of Manchester
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6 - Dearth, dirt and fever epidemics: rewriting the history of British ‘public health’, 1780–1850
pp 125-148
- By John V. Pickstone, Manchester University
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7 - Epidemics and revolutions: cholera in nineteenth-century Europe
pp 149-174
- By Richard J. Evans, University of London
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8 - Hawaiian depopulation as a model for the Amerindian experience
pp 175-202
- By A. W. Crosby, University of Texas in Austin
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9 - Plague panic and epidemic politics in India, 1896–1914
pp 203-240
- By Rajnarayan Chandavarkar, University of Cambridge
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10 - Plagues of beasts and men; prophetic responses to epidemic in eastern and southern Africa
pp 241-268
- By Terence Ranger, University of Oxford
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11 - Syphilis in colonial East and Central Africa: the social construction of an epidemic
pp 269-302
- By Megan Vaughan, University of Oxford
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12 - The early years of AIDS in the United Kingdom 1981–6: historical perspectives
pp 303-328
- By Virginia Berridge, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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Index
pp 329-344
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Past and Present Publications
pp 345-347
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Epidemics and Ideas

Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

Contributors
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-x

1 - Introduction
pp 1-20

2 - Epidemic, ideas and classical Athenian society
pp 21-44

3 - Disease, dragons and saints: the management of epidemics in the Dark Ages
pp 45-76

4 - Epidemic disease in formal and popular thought in early Islamic Society
pp 77-100

5 - Plague and perceptions of the poor in early modern Italy
pp 101-124

6 - Dearth, dirt and fever epidemics: rewriting the history of British ‘public health’, 1780–1850
pp 125-148

7 - Epidemics and revolutions: cholera in nineteenth-century Europe
pp 149-174

8 - Hawaiian depopulation as a model for the Amerindian experience
pp 175-202

9 - Plague panic and epidemic politics in India, 1896–1914
pp 203-240

10 - Plagues of beasts and men; prophetic responses to epidemic in eastern and southern Africa
pp 241-268

11 - Syphilis in colonial East and Central Africa: the social construction of an epidemic
pp 269-302

12 - The early years of AIDS in the United Kingdom 1981–6: historical perspectives
pp 303-328

Index
pp 329-344

Past and Present Publications
pp 345-347

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Epidemics and Ideas

Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence

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Contents

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