Disease and History [Hardcover]

Frederick F. Cartwright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1972

This volume traces the influence of disease on the civilizations, armies, and leaders that dominate history. They demonstrate that even the most powerful individuals and societies can be, and have been, fatally weakened by disease.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frederick F. Cartwright was a former Head of the Department of History of Medicine at Kings College Medical School, London and was the author of many books on the history of medicine. Michael D. Biddiss is Professor of History at the University of Reading and has also published many books on the subject. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Devin-Adair Pub (June 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069024116X
• ISBN-13: 978-0690241167
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,585,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A subtle account of disease and history, March 17, 2002

By 

Roger McEvilly (the guilty bystander) (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disease & History, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

This book is a good overview of disease and history, with a particular emphasis on psychosomatic disease. In this respect it is written in a slightly different style to others in the genre which I have read, such as "Plagues and Peoples", "Man and Microbes", and "Disease" (Ridley), which focus more on physical aspects of disease. It also presents perhaps more of the alternative views and arguments than some of the others, such as the debate around the origin of syphilis, the possibility that sweating sickness evolved into influenza, political ideologies and racism around the concept of disease, and the importance of geography and psychosomatic disease has on history in general, is more emphasised. Perhaps the crux of the books argument is summarised on page 191 "we may state that all disease is to a greater or lesser degree psychosomatic".

Examples of disease and the psychological effect on individuals and history is detailed in stories such as: the suspicion that Ivan the Terrible suffered from cerebral syphilis (page 52), and also Henry the V111, Queen Victoria and haemiphilia-and the suggested links to the downfall of the Russian Monarchy, the influence of the Black Death on feudalism, and the rise of Christianity in the light of successive "incurable disease during the years which followed the life of Christ" (page 15). The history of the Napoleanic wars is argued to have been influenced as much by "General Typhus" as by "General Napoleon", and Napoleon is observed to suffer from several possible ailments-not described in former literature. Cholera and its influence on sanitary reform in the 1800s is discussed, malaria and yellow fever and the development of germ theory, the death of the poet Keats by TB, Middle age witch- hunts, dancing manias, Hitlers paranoia about diseased and "pure stock"-these are all discussed in the light of physical and psychosomatic disease, and the issues and political ideaologies that sometimes surrounds disease. Aids is ony briefly discussed towards the end.

What I liked most about this book is the growing recognition of psychosomatic effects on people and history, and some alternative arguments to history and disease in this context. It is also interesting to note how the idea of "disease" itself has infleunced history, to the wrath of God to the inferiority by geography or immune system familiarity. One thing is certain about disease, whether disorder of the body, or disorder of the mind, physical or psychological or both -it has played a larger role in history than has formerly been given credit.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fine Summaries With A Dose Of Salt., April 15, 2006

By 

SUPPORT THE ASPCA. "PILUM THROWER!" (?????) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disease and History (Sutton History Classics) (Paperback)

For a brief book 238 pages this was fairly well written. The reader should be cognizent that this came out in 1972. The authors premise that wars, plagues, and famines feed each other is certainly true. At times the author narrated these beliefs without going deep enough into the details of the "hows." But, he did demonstrate how Athens and Rome were weakened far more by disease than from invaders. I thought the first three chapters were the most convincing. 1-Disease in the anc. world, 2-the black death, 3-The mystery of syphilus. The last ch. Man made problems of the present and future jumped from one topic to the next. Yet, he pointed out problems that have actually come to fruition today. This book provides good food for thought.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There are much better books on the same subject, January 11, 2001

By 

doc peterson (Portland, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Disease & History, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

Instead of discussing the impact of disease on society and civilizations, Cartwright speculates about what specific the diseases were that have played an important role in history. This was frustrating, because at best it is pure speculation.

For example, Cartwright asks "Was it syphilis that made Ivan IV "Ivan the Terrible?" and "Did the Bubonic Plague hearld the beginning of the end of feudalism?" I find such questions moot and pointless. If you are interested in this sort of thing there are several books I recommend over this one. A good introduction is Plagues and Peoples; Alfred Crosby's The Forgotten Epidemic is also excellent (although it is about only a specific epidemic.)