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Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire
William Rosen · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Black Death
Philip Ziegler · 319 pages
Philip Ziegler's acclaimed overview of the black death synthesises the records of the contemporary chroniclers and the work of later historians.
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
John M. Barry · 546 pages
At the height of WWI, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collisio
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Jim Murphy · 176 pages
The American Plague
Molly Caldwell Crosby · 320 pages
In this account, a journalist traces the course of yellow fever, stopping in 1878 Memphis to "vividly [evoke] the Faulkner-meets-'Dawn of the Dead' horrors,"*-and moving on to today's strain of the killer virus.Over the course of history, yellow fever has paralyzed governments, halted commerce, quarantined cities, moved the U.S. capital, and altered the outcome of wars. During a single summer in M
Plagues and Peoples
William Hardy McNeill · 365 pages
Covers the historical impact of bubonic plague (including the Black Death), cholera, malaria, smallpox, and other diseases.
In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made
Norman F. Cantor · 245 pages
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
Barbara W. Tuchman · 704 pages
Amazon.com Review In this sweeping historical narrative, Barbara Tuchman writes of the cataclysmic 14th century, when the energies of medieval Europe were devoted to fighting internecine wars and warding off the plague. Some medieval thinkers viewed these disasters as divine punishment for mortal wrongs; others, more practically, viewed them as opportunities to accumulate wealth and power. One
Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It
Gina Kolata · 338 pages
The fascinating, true story of the world's deadliest disease. In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the epidemic raged. Children were left orphaned and families were devastated. As many American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu as were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Es
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
John Kelly · 384 pages
Chronicles the Great Plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the fourteenth century, documenting the experiences of people who lived during its height while describing the decline of moral boundaries that also marked the period.
How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
David France · 640 pages
"From the creator of and inspired by the seminal documentary of the same name--an Oscar nominee--the definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic, and the powerful, heroic stories of the gay activists who refused to die without a fight. Intimately reported, this is the story of the men and women who, watching their friends and lovers fall, ignored by public officials, reli
Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today
David P. Clark · 283 pages
"Clear, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, Germs, Genes & Civilization makes the case that infectious diseases have played a major role in shaping society. Clark argues that religion, morals, and even democracy have all been influenced by the smallest and most dangerous organisms on our planet. While you may not accept every argument, you will be stimulated, entertained, and enlightened."---Samuel
Pox: An American History
Michael Willrich · 427 pages
Chronicles how America's Progressive Era war on smallpox sparked one of the twentieth century's leading civil liberties battles, describing the views and tactics of anti-vaccine advocates who feared an increasingly large government.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann · 660 pages
A groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus's landing had crossed the Bering Strait twelve thousand years ago; existed mainly in small, nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus
Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy · 288 pages
Charts the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies, documenting how before its vaccine the disease caused fatal brain infections and sparked the creations of monsters, including werewolves, vampires and zombies.
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
Randy Shilts · 651 pages
The blueprint of 20th century investigative journalism. Tracing the course of HIV/AIDS through society; from its earliest as then unknown incarnation, to the height of this 1980s hysteria – the death of Rock Hudson: Shilts's book should be in every High School's final academic examinations coursework reading list, as a compulsory item. An unregrettable read.
Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure
Jim Murphy, Alison Blank · 160 pages
The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years
Sonia Shah · 307 pages
Traces the centuries-long battle to treat and prevent malaria in numerous regions of the world while revealing how hundreds of millions of people are infected annually in spite of available preventions.
Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America
Susan Campbell Bartoletti · 236 pages
With archival photographs and text among other primary sources, provides a biography of Mary Mallon that goes beyond the typhoid scandal of her controversial life, and explores issues such as her treatment by medical and legal officials, human and constitutional rights, and the science of pathology. Discusses her later years, and her death in 1938.
The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox
Jennifer Lee Carrell · 474 pages
A timely book about history's first desperate efforts to conquer smallpoxThe Speckled Monster tells the dramatic story of two parents who dared to fight back against smallpox. After barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, they flouted eighteenth-century medicine by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children. From their hero
Polio: An American Story
David M. Oshinsky · 342 pages
[This book] tells the ... story of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, from the March of Dimes to the discovery of the Salk and Sabin vaccines--and beyond.-Dust jacket.
The Illustrious Dead: Napoleon, Typhus, and the Dream of World Conquest
Stephan Talty · 336 pages
Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them
Jennifer Wright · 320 pages
"A humorous book about history's worst plagues from the Antonine Plague, to leprosy, to polio and the heroes who fought them In 1518, in a small town in France, Frau Troffea began dancing and didn't stop. She danced herself to her death six days later, and soon thirty-four more villagers joined her. Then more. In a month more than 400 people had died from the mysterious dancing plague. In late-nin
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900
Alfred W. Crosby · 387 pages
Crosby argues that the expansion of European culture and genetic stock was a function of ecology and biology over time rather than a result of quick and painful conquests.