Customer Reviews

Disease and History

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.)

This book is well written and provides decent information on a number of historical case studies where disease had an effect on history--and politics. Early on, the author notes the focus of this book: "The object. . .is to study the area in which doctor and historian inevitably meet, that of the impact of disease upon history.

The first case study is "Disease in the ancient world." Some of the examples--the plague that decimated the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War; the series of plagues afflicting Rome. Another case study: "The Black Plague," as it ravaged Europe. Then, disease as it ravaged Napoleon's army. And so on.

The case studies are literately written and certainly suggest the import role that disease can play in history. Some claims seem a bit of a stretch, such as plague destroying feudalism. Still and all, an interesting book, reminding us of the role of disease in human events.

The authors clearly put lots of work into researching and referencing the topics. However, I felt the urge to keep a red pen in my hand and correct the position of commas and try to decide where the next paragraph should have started. How could such a tediously prepared work have been so poorly proof written?

While the authors stick to facts, for the most part, they are rather free with their subjective interpretations, which has marred the book considerably. For example, they posit that some of the Africans brought to the Caribbean led better lives than they would have in their own country. This is absurd, and colonialist.

Both authors reflect their age in this, and other "facts", which I read as opinions, also reflect this, and their British-centric approach marrs things further. (They are both aging professors of distinguished British Universities).

Another remark, when talking about crowd manipulation, also reflects an unwarranted view:

"...the hysteria that followed the tragic death of Princess Diana....and [only] a relatively small circle of people knew of and admired...her humane efforts to outlaw landmines. Had an enquirer gone from house to house anywhere in Britain a few days before the accident and asked the simple question 'What do you know of Princess Diana?', many of the answers would run...'Not very much at all'."

They then proceed to use this as an example of "mass hysteria" brought on by the media. In fact, perusal of American, British, and Canadian (I am Canadian) opinions and views (not specifically but not excluding the mass media) shows that thier interpretation is not correct; these fellows have an axe to grind. And they do it throughout.

My recommendation? Don't base all your views of disease in history on this book. But read it, as well as others, with a "pinch of salt".

Excellent book on medical history and especially good essays on epidemics throughout history. I am using it in a class as a textbook.

I don't understand why this book is a classic or why anyone would give it 5 stars. the book is poorly written. a college freshman writing teacher would groan at the frequency of glibly vague terms, poorly constructed sentences, use of colloquialisms. each chapter is a series of historical tidbits that are not chronologically organized or contextualized. there are no citations or references to the sources of the historical "facts". the reader has no way to assess the legitimacy of the information.

do not bother with this book.

Ah, the power of preventive medicine. Somewhere in this book, and I wish I'd put a sticky note in so I could post the exact quote, it states that in wartime, disease is more deadly to soldiers than battle. Which was the entire reason for my specialty when I was in the army (preventive medicine specialist). Which, in turn, is why I bought this book years and years ago. I'd just never actually sat down and read the whole thing until now.

Disease and History is a little more wide-ranging than just the history of disease in a military setting--it shows how disease has changed the course of history, from epidemics that killed thousands to how disease affecting an individual ruler or ruling family caused changes in how, or sometimes whether, they ruled.

However, it's a real chore to slog through reading.

The first couple of chapters are the most interesting, the ones about the Black Death and other epidemics, and I found the chapter on Napoleon just fascinating.

But the writing itself is painful to read--it's written like a freshman research paper. Lots of telling the reader what you're going to tell them. Then there are the tangents. A section will be about a particular disease, but it'll meander off into a long-winded discussion of something else and never end up tying the two together, or making a conclusion about it.

That's particularly evident in the later chapters--a discussion of hemophilia and the fall of the Russian monarchy gets completely derailed, and the chapter on mass suggestion is just a mess of unrelated stuff that if I were cynical, I'd suspect was added to cash in on the Princess Di fever.

The final chapter, about modern life, is a bit dated--understandably so, since the book was first written in 1972, so it's a historical look at the subject in itself. It's a combination of interesting facts and the author's political and generational biases.

Even though Disease and History has a lot of flaws, I very much enjoyed parts of it, and found the subject matter intriguing enough to plan on seeking out other books on the subject.

Throughout history there have been all kinds of diseases roaming this planet and affecting people and their lives. Disease has played a very peculiar part in history. It has vanished whole towns or races. Disease has even turned into an option when trying to control or kill people. There's a reazon for biological weapons in our modern world. And up to a certain point we could think of some diseases as nature's own weapon against humanity.

This book gives us a very interesting tour through diseases in history, and the role they have played in it all along. You can see how they spread, how people dealed with them, how they were puzzled by them, etc.
It's not a subject that appeals every reader, but if you want to wander in the terrain of health and disease in history, this is a good book indeed.