Book ID: CBB325866388

Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS (2018)

unapi

Cohn, Samuel K., Jr. (Author)


Oxford University Press


Publication Date: 2018
Physical Details: 656
Language: English

By investigating thousands of descriptions of epidemics reaching back before the fifth-century-BCE Plague of Athens to the distrust and violence that erupted with Ebola in 2014, Epidemics challenges a dominant hypothesis in the study of epidemics, that invariably across time and space, epidemics provoked hatred, blaming of the "other", and victimizing bearers of epidemic diseases, particularly when diseases were mysterious, without known cures or preventive measures, as with AIDS during the last two decades of the twentieth century.However, scholars and public intellectuals, especially post-AIDS, have missed a fundamental aspect of the history of epidemics. Instead of sparking hatred and blame, this study traces epidemics' socio-psychological consequences across time and discovers a radically different picture: that epidemic diseases have more often unified societies across class, race, ethnicity, and religion, spurring self-sacrifice and compassion.

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Reviewed By

Review Joseph P. Byrne (2019) Review of "Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS". American Historical Review (pp. 1010-1013). unapi

Review Flurin Condrau (2020) Review of "Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS". Social History of Medicine (pp. 1399-1401). unapi

Review Peter Baldwin (2019) Review of "Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS". Bulletin of the History of Medicine (pp. 114-115). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB325866388/

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Authors & Contributors
Scott, Susan
Speziale, Salvatore
Pienaar, Kinar
Smallman, Shawn C.
Halkitis, Perry N.
Cummiskey, Julia Ross
Concepts
Epidemics
Epidemiology
AIDS (disease); HIV / AIDS
Plague
Public health
Medicine
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
Early modern
Medieval
Modern
20th century
Places
United States
South Africa
Uganda
England
Mediterranean region
Latin America
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