Captain of Death:
The Story of Tuberculosis
A full account of tuberculosis from prehistoric times through to the present day, including the personal accounts of victims and those who contributed to our knowledge of the disease.
Captain of Death Explaining Epidemics:
And Other Studies in the History of Medicine
Medicine until recently remained a history written by and for practitioners. These essays diverge from this tradition in an attempt to view medical history within the context of intellectual and social change of the last two centuries.
Explaining Epidemics Flu:
The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic
of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
A fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. Looks at the social and personal effects of the disease, from improved public health awareness to the loss of productivity. (The disease affected 20- to 40-year-olds disproportionately.)
Flu Influenza 1918:
The Worst Epidemic in American History
In Boston the stock market closed. In Pennsylvania a statewide order shut down every place of amusement, every saloon. In Kentucky the Board of Health prohibited public gatherings of any kind, even funerals. 1918 America was caught up in the last horrific year of World War I. Yet the war had nothing to do with the extreme measures being taken. Deadly influenza, the so-called Spanish flu, was sweeping the country.
Influenza 1918 Living in the Shadow of Death:
Tuberculosis and the Social Experience
of Illness in American History
For more than 150 years, until well into the 20th century, tuberculosis was the dreaded scourge that AIDS is for us today. Drawing on the diaries and letters of hundreds of individuals over five generations, the author presents an intimate portrait of what it was like for patients, families, and communities.
--- Annotation copyright Book News, Inc.
Living in the Shadow of Death Man and Microbes:
Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times
This book provides a historical look at humans and micro organisms from ancient times to the present day. It traces the development of man from primitive hunter-gatherer to urban dweller to world traveler, pointedly analyzing how socio-ecological changes have contributed to the changing incidence of disease.
With amazing detail, the author traces the origins of historical plagues (smallpox, cholera, influenza, polio, and others) as well as scourges such as hemorrhagic fever (Ebola and its cousins), Lyme disease, Legionnaires' disease, and HIV.
Man and Microbes New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers:
Tales of Parasites and People
An easy to read and interesting book about the world of parasites and our changing world. If you are already interested in the subject and would like a more detailed book, Yellow Fever, Black Goddess: The Coevolution of People and Plagues (also on this page) might be a better choice.
New Guinea Tapeworms Plagues and Peoples
Describes the interaction of the human race with the multitude of microscopic species that from time to time have taken the form of great plagues. The book follows these effects on the history of the human race throughout history. The extremely interesting contents might be presented in what some may feel is a dry academic style. Others with an interest in the subject will find this a good read.
Plagues and Peoples Plague Time:
How Stealth Infections Are Causing Cancers
Heart Disease, and Other Deadly Ailments
The medical profession remains slow to recognize that many chronic diseases have an infectious causation. Thousands suffered and died because antibiotic treatment of peptic ulcers was generally recognized in 1995 instead of 1955. Thousands more probably suffered and died over a similar period because cervical cancer wasn't treated as a preventable sexually transmitted disease.
The author (professor of biology at Amherst College) presents his view that several chronic diseases (among them atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's, impotence and some cancers) probably will be proved to have an infectious causation.
Plague Time The Black Death
This book will answer any questions you have about the Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague. It explores the lasting effects of the Black Death on European society and its contribution to the disintegration of an age.
The Black Death The Gospel of Germs:
Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life
Just about 100 years ago, American medical students were being taught the germ theory of infectious disease for the first time as scientific orthodoxy. This theory replaced the older zymotic theory, which was based on the concept that the agents of infection were chemical ferments, the products of decaying filth that could, with the right atmospheric conditions, be generated spontaneously.
The Gospel of Germs The Invisible Enemy:
A Natural History of Viruses
Fascinating book that shows how viruses have caused devastating diseases from times past to the present. The book also explains how viruses are still one of the greatest challenges to science.
The Invisible Enemy The Plague of the Spanish Lady:
The Influenza Panademic of 1918-1919
Historical information presented in an engaging and interesting manner. One of the definitive works on the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. Lacks statistics, numbers and charts, but makes up for it with narrative accounts of the Influenza Pandemic. The focus is global and excludes the American experience.
If academic history is not to your taste, read Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic or Influenza 1918: The Worst Epidemic in American History. They are written with a more public audience in mind.
The Plague of the Spanish Lady The River:
A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS
A step by step look through investigations and interviews, seeking to prove the link between the sudden appearance of HIV-1 and some shabbily-constructed mass trials of a polio vaccine in the 1950s.
The book is sometimes like a thriller, sometimes like a textbook and sometimes like a newspaper article. At all times the story is maintained in a manner that allows the reader to follow it easily. That is not easy, it's about 1000 pages.
The River (hardcover) The River (softcover) Yellow Fever, Black Goddess:
The Coevolution of People and Plagues
An interesting book that traces the way germs that cause plagues and epidemics are primarily striving to stay alive in the best possible conditions. Well documented accounts of how various bacteria, viruses, and other microbes have, over the centuries, adapted to changing conditions to achieve those goals.
Yellow Fever, Black Goddess