The Burdens of Disease: Epidemics and Human Response in Western History [Hardcover]

J. Hays (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813525276 | ISBN-13: 978-0813525273 | Publication Date: May 1, 1998

In this sweeping approach to the history of disease, historian J. N. Hays chronicles perceptions and responses to plague and pestilence over two thousand years of Western history. Hays frames disease as a multidimensional construct, situated at the intersection of history, politics, culture, and medicine, and rooted in mentalities and social relations as much as in biological conditions of pathology. He shows how diseases affect social and political change, reveal social tensions, and are mediated both within and outside the realm of scientific medicine. Beginning with the legacy of Greek, Roman, and early Christian ideas about disease, the book then discusses many of the dramatic epidemics from the fourteenth through the twentieth centuries, moving from leprosy and bubonic plague through syphilis, smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, influenza, and poliomyelitis to AIDS. Hays examines the devastating exchange of diseases between cultures and continents that ensued during the age of exploration. He also describes disease through the lenses of medical theory, public health, folk traditions, and government response. The history of epidemics is also the history of their victims. Hays pays close attention to the relationships between poverty and power and disease, using contemporary case studies to support his argument that diseases concentrate their pathological effects on the poor, while elites associate the cause of disease with the culture and habits of the poor. J. N. Hays is a professor of history at Loyola University of Chicago. "Hays has written a remarkable book. . . . It should be in every undergraduate library and be recommended reading, as a whole or in part, in a wide range of history of medicine courses."--Isis "Required reading for any university-level course on the social history of medicine and, indeed, of medicine generally. . . . A masterly and reliable synthesis."--American Historical Review "This is an impressive piece of work. . . . A fine and focused overview of a significant range of topics in the history of medicine."--M. Jeanne Peterson, Indiana University

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hays has written a remarkable book. He too has a message: that epidemics are primarily dependent on poverty and that the West has consistently refused to accept this. Hays''s book should be in every undergraduate library and be recommended reading, as a whole or in part, in a wide range of history of medicine courses."

(Isis 19990101)

"Required reading for any university-level course on the social history of disease and, indeed, of medicine generally. A masterly and reliable synthesis."

(American Historical Review 19990101)

"This is an impressive piece of work. It delivers more than it promises, for it not only treats epidemics and Western responses to them, but also discusses conflicting ideas about disease in relation to such topics as population, tuberculosis, technology, and empire—and all in a lucid, even-handed, and generous way. A fine and focused overview of a significant range of topics in the history of medicine."

(M. Jeanne Peterson Indiana University 19990101)

"In The Burdens of Disease J. N. Hays has synthesized a very large literature dealing with the history of medicine and disease. The result is an original and impressive book that deserves a wide readership. It provides a fascinating perspective on contemporary health issues."

(Gerald Grob Institute for Health Policy, Rutgers University 20111001)

"An impressive text. Hays has presented us with a well-researched and insightful thesis, which deserves a wide readership not only among the microbiologically inclined, but also among all those concerned with the impact of microbial disease on public policy."

(Bulletin of the Royal College of Pathologists ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

In this updated edition of The Burdens of Disease, with revisions and additions to the original content, including the evolution of drug-resistant diseases and expanded coverage of HIV/AIDS, along with recent data on mortality figures and other relevant statistics, J. N. Hays chronicles perceptions and responses to plague and pestilence over two thousand years of western history. Disease is framed as a multidimensional construct, situated at the intersection of history, politics, culture, and medicine, and rooted in mentalities and social relations as much as in biological conditions of pathology. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813525276
• ISBN-13: 978-0813525273
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,623,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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