Plagues and Peoples by William Hardy McNeill
BUY IT NEW
- $17.00 List price$13.60 Online price$12.24 Member price(Save 27%)Limited Time Offer! Everyone receives the Member Price on books.
See Details
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Paperback - Updated)
- Pub. Date: January 1998
- 368pp
- Sales Rank: 41,334
| More Formats | |
|---|---|
| Hardcover | $32.25 |
Buy it Used: 42 copies from $2.55 See All Available
Customers who bought this also bought
Product Details
- Pub. Date: January 1998
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Format: Paperback, 368pp
- Sales Rank: 41,334
- ISBN-13: 9780385121224
- ISBN: 0385121229
- Edition Description: Updated
Synopsis
Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history as seen through the extraordinary impact--political, demographic, ecological, and psychological--of disease on cultures. From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the history of humankind. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter has been added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his new introduction to this updated editon.
Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. "A brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews), it is essential reading, offering a new perspective on human history.
Annotation
"...an intriguing work, referred to by the New Yorker as `revolutionary'...examines how plagues & diseases have affected civilizations & the history of the world."
More Reviews and RecommendationsCustomer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 10Reviews: 5
- See All Reviews
AP World History Review: Information Overloadby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
December 09, 2008:
Plagues and Peoples is a book for those interested in the developments of disease and the effect on the environments and lives of humans and animals alike. McNeill fully describes the social, economic, and political impact of devastating plagues to once thriving civilizations. He convinces the reader of possible and logical arguments, although there is uncertainty in recorded history. In his evidence the reader can clearly see how a society that a person lives in affects how susceptible they are to disease. For example, over-exhausted, isolated, farm workers are more likely to contract some form of sickness, rather than wealthy, urban city-goers. McNeill does address that these epidemics also had a positive impact. Religions thrived during times of plague, having their own explanation of the random outbreaks of disease, and an opportunity of salvation.
McNeill did a nice job in writing an informative and educational book. It was so informative, that it is almost overwhelming, changing how the reader once thought of how civilizations developed and existed. One of the negatives, in my opinion, was that it seemed like this book was written for others of historical expertise. It is more of a book that I can see scholars chatting about at lunch, rather than a high school student reading and being able to grasp every well-researched detail. I fully recommend this book to students with an interest in history, but prepared to read through very compact text to get the knowledge that you seek.
Interesting Viewpoint on Plaguesby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
December 05, 2007: I would recommend this book to those who enjoy history. It gives very descriptive viewpoints about the parasitic developments throughout history. McNeill gives well-described facts about the plagues over the centuries and their impact on both the human and the animal species. McNeill reveals how parasites have developed and changed the species around them throughout years. He takes us back to the different plagues that happened throughout the years and describes how the parasitic infections changed the lives of people and how they lived. The parasitic invasions changed political, economic, agricultural, and social viewpoints in the different civilizations that the plagues won over. McNeill did an excellent job providing the details that we miss out on in some of our history books.
loading...
loading...
loading...