Jonathan Kennedy

A History of the World in Eight Plagues

Pathogenesis

Who knew that a book about the symbiotic nature between public health, sociology, and the impact of health and human behavior could be so interesting. This book covers from the neolithic to the present moment, and goes into detail about the impacts of plagues on societies. From this book we get the hypothesis that Neanderthals were wiped out by microbes that Homo had immunity to, the complex role that immunity and lack thereof played in the rise of the Roman empire, as well as the impact of plagues on the move away from Polytheism and into Islam and Christianity. Probably the most surprising for many western readers is the role of Malaria in not only the colonization of Africa (or lack thereof until the quinine was discovered in the mid 1800's), as well as the fact that herd immunity to malaria played a major role in the Haitian revolution, the implementation of chattel slavery as opposed to indentured servitude and therefore the creation of the southern economy in 1800s America, as well as the roles of herd immunity in the American revolutionary and civil wars. Deeply deeply interesting book, vindicating especially for folks who started to make through-lines in their perception of history in regards to the impacts of public health and its interaction with societies "national character," after covid 19.  

Pathogenesis A History of the World in Eight Plagues

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