A look at how epidemics have shaped world history.

A sweeping look at how the major transformations in history - from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth of capitalism - have been shaped not by humans but by germs. According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this book, a professor argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead,...

The definitive social history of tuberculosis, from its origins as a haunting mystery to its modern reemergence that now threatens populations around the world. It killed novelist George Orwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and millions of others -- rich and poor. Desmond Tutu, Amitabh Bachchan, and Nelson Mandela survived it, just. For centuries, tuberculosis has ravaged cities and plagued the human body. In Phantom Plague, Vidya Krishnan, traces the history...

"This book is about different diseases that have occurred throughout time and their effects on society"--