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(8 reviews)
Author: RS Bray
ISBN : 022717240X
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Download Free Download Armies of Pestilence: The Impact of Disease on History [Paperback] for everyone book 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link
The influence that disease has had on history has often been hidden behind the more 'glorious' exploits of individuals and monarchs. In Armies of Pestilence R.S. Bray offers a fresh contribution to the impact that illnesses have had on world history. The periods discussed span from the Biblical accounts of epidemics, through the Justinian plague (what was that deadly disease that has kept scientists in contention right through to the present day'), to the miscalculated 1976 influenza epidemic from which the American government took a long time to recover. Dr. Bray covers the Plague (the scourge of medieval Europe), malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, typhus and cholera. The author offers a comprehensive evaluation of many other works, both scientific and historical, which provide a vast basis for research on this subject. His vigorous style and timely injections of humour make this an absorbing and accessible book.
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- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: James Clarke & Co (June 24, 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 022717240X
- ISBN-13: 978-0227172407
- Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 6.1 x 9.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Free Download Armies of Pestilence: The Impact of Disease on History
I'm used to reading books on reasonably technical subjects that are neither exciting page turners nor literary masterpieces. I therefore tend to rate such books on informational content. This book is full of content. It deals with a number of easily identified and devastating disease as well as some ancient, apparently infectious epidemics, that have somehow disappeared from history. An interaction of disease organism and immunity may have caused a change in symptoms to the extent that we can no longer match the present disease with the ancient disease. On the other hand, certain disease organisms may have become non-pathogenic over the centuries or, because of lethal efficiency, may have disappeared from the human species.
This last should be emphasized. A pathogenic organism can only remain infectious to the extent that it maintains a continuous string of infections. If an organism is too lethal, it kills off its last victim and kills itself off in the process. If rabies, for example, were maintained ONLY in the human species, it would have long ceased to exist. It is not only uniformly fatal but kills quickly. There are virtually no descriptions of human-to-human transmission. It is entirely possible that some past infectious diseases blew up and produced sudden, extremely efficient and lethal diseases breaking the infectious string.
No matter. Most of the diseases described--Bubonic Plague, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Small Pox, Typhus etc--have established a balance of survival/lethality with the human species and therefore [with the exception of Small Pox] continue to be a problem. Yes, some have changed. Yersenia pests doesn't seem to have quite the same potential for major epidemic spread that it once had.
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