The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease) [Hardcover]

Randall M. Packard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801887127 | ISBN-13: 978-0801887123 | Publication Date: December 18, 2007 | Edition: 1

Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people—and kills one to three million—each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did other regions control malaria and why does the disease still flourish in some parts of the globe?

From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall Packard’s far-ranging narrative traces the natural and social forces that help malaria spread and make it deadly. He finds that war, land development, crumbling health systems, and globalization—coupled with climate change and changes in the distribution and flow of water—create conditions in which malaria's carrier mosquitoes thrive. The combination of these forces, Packard contends, makes the tropical regions today a perfect home for the disease.

Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control strategies and saving lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

What Randall M. Packard does masterfully in his book on malaria is to integrate the biological complexity of the disease into its historical, social and economic context, even if he stops short of drawing all the obvious conclusions from the data he so ably presents.

(G. Dunkel Workers World 2008)

Useful in collections that support tropical medicine, public health, and the history of medicine.

(Choice 2008)

A fine book... This short book carries through its thoughtful approach with admirable power and consistency.

(Bill Bynum Lancet 2008)

This is an excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience.

(Brian Greenwood Nature Medicine 2008)

This is an interesting read—a short, well-written, and exceptionally well-documented history and commentary on the possible control—and, hopefully, eradication—of one of the world's major diseases.

(Markley H. Boyer, MD, DPhil, MPH JAMA 2008)

This is a remarkable book that will be of great interest to any historian working on the history of disease and to those historians who deal with the difficult question of how to write sound and clear general histories.

(Marcos Cueto Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2008)

Packard's is a terrific book that will guide the next generation of medical and environmental historians as global challenges to health persist and expand in the wake of unintended environmental change.

(James C. McCann International Journal of African Historical Studies 2008)

The Making of a Tropical Disease is a vigorously argued and accessibly narrated ecological history of malaria, a contribution as much to social medicine and studies in the political economy of disease as to medical history.

(Warwick Anderson Isis 2009)

What gives a special energy to this volume is his conviction that the history of malaria is embedded in the history of development and that the lessons of this history must be applied to contemporary development policies.

(Marcia Wright Journal of Global History 2009)

Packard’s lightness of touch allows his book to be both enjoyable and compelling, despite the frustration and heartbreak in his story.

(Anne Hardy Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2009)

An excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience. It should be required reading for all those contemplating a second malaria eradication campaign.

(Brian Greenwood Nature Medicine 2011)

The author can be congratulated for having tackled such a complex and difficult topic. His research and depth of knowledge on the topic as a historian are just amazing. He has also provided excellent references for further studies.

(Walter Kipp Canadian Studies in Population )

From the Back Cover

2009 Book of the Year, End Malaria Awards, Malaria Foundation International

Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people—and kills one to three million—each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did other regions control malaria, and why does the disease still flourish in parts of the globe.

This acclaimed history of malaria traces the natural and social forces that help the disease spread and make it deadly.

"This is an interesting read—a short, well-written, and exceptionally well-documented history and commentary on the possible control—and, hopefully, eradication—of one of the world's major diseases."— JAMA

"A vigorously argued and accessibly narrated ecological history of malaria, a contribution as much to social medicine and studies in the political economy of disease as to medical history."— Isis

"This is a remarkable book that will be of great interest to any historian working on the history of disease and to those historians who deal with the difficult question of how to write sound and clear general histories."— Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"An excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience. It should be required reading for all those contemplating a second malaria eradication campaign."— Nature Medicine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (December 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801887127
• ISBN-13: 978-0801887123
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and very convincing book, February 12, 2008

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I enjoy reading books on diseases, and have read several - on such subjects as smallpox, polio, bubonic plague, and others. I must say, this book really struck me as something different. Instead of simply tracing the history of the disease, the author, the director of the Institute for the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, shows how the spread of this disease was linked to trends in agriculture and human living patterns. What struck me as most interesting is that the author convincingly shows that malaria was commonly linked to backward, feudalistic patterns of agriculture. However, when modern, capitalistic forms of agriculture took over, the disease was inevitably pushed back, and in some cases actually pushed right out!

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating and very convincing book. The author does an excellent job of showing how the various malaria viruses function, how they are transmitted, and how they are affected by how people live. This is a great book, one that is sure to interest anyone who is interested in human diseases - such as me! I give this book my highest recommendations!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book of history and policy, February 21, 2008

By 

Patrick Oden (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Once upon a time there was a mosquito. And this mosquito carried something with her and gave it to everyone she met. Men in peculiar outfits sprayed all over the land, and the mosquito was banished, in that land at least.

This is the story of malaria. The story that I've heard.

But the actual story of Malaria is a lot more complex. Who would have, for instance, expected a history on a supposed tropical disease to begin with a study of a city in Northern Russia? The Making of a Tropical Disease does just that.

Honestly, this isn't always a fun book to read. Some books are very good about inspiration and motivation and glide along in presenting the chosen perspective. This isn't about inspiration or motivation. It is more ambitious. There are times in which it slows down and gets into details and spends a long time one what might seem a minor point. But, this negative isn't really a criticism. These seemingly minor points are in fact important, and it is the tendency to gloss over such points that undermine so many attempts to respond.

This certainly is a well written book. Randall Packard is a very good writer, and even with my above comment I must add he does a wonderful job of making personal connection. In his journey through the history of where malaria spread he does not only relate facts and figures. He tells a story, and in telling that story has written a very, very solid history.

But more than a history The Making of a Tropical Disease is also really a book on global policy. Packard does not hide this fact. He is making the point that malaria is not simply a story about random mosquitoes who live in unfortunate places. Rather, malaria is a disease that responds to human interaction, and throughout history there is a direct correlation between policy, politics, land use, economics and the occurrence of malaria. Humans interact with this world, and this interaction is not neutral but rather creates changes. These changes can bring open the door to ill effects.

This is not simply asserted and then policies recommended that fit some pre-conceived political bias. Rather, Packard is very scientific and very good in his history, laying out clearly the practices and results that led to malaria in certain regions. He respects the use of sources and when making a leap in interpretation or dealing with a situation in which clear records might be sketchy he admits this. His interpretation of data, however, seems solid even when he must depend on inference.

Packard is laying an absolutely solid foundation to a holistic policy in regards to malaria, and more than malaria. In a way this is a very post-modern book. The pre-moderns suffered from nature. The moderns sought to conquer nature, overwhelming it. The mass application of DDT resulted. Packard builds a middle ground, arguing that we should neither be victims but nor should we deny our own impact. Instead, by understanding nature, malaria and mosquitoes and land and water and humanity, we can develop intentional policies that that reflect the unintentional answers to past malaria outbreaks.

This really is an extraordinary book. For those who are interested in diseases it makes for an interesting read. For those who are interested in global politics and policies it pushes beyond the usual responses and builds a solid case for real, lasting and healthy actions that can literally save lives and entire regions from decay.

My perspective on malaria was at the same time begun and provoked, leading me to see so much of global realities with a new understanding. Very few books can be considered transformational, but Packard really did transform my thinking.

This should be a required book for anyone involved in global studies.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Malaria through the ages, February 10, 2008

By 

Simon Cotton (Uppingham, Rutland, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease) (Hardcover)

No respecter of persons, malaria has killed millions of people, from Popes and Roman Emperors to the poorest of the poor, and it still kills millions each year, not to mention the multitudes enfeebled and incapacitated. Byron, Dante, Alexander the Great and Oliver Cromwell were all probably slain by it. Malaria has decided the outcome of wars. Packard's writing on malaria, twenty years in the making, was inspired by first-hand experience, a bite from an infected mosquito nearly 40 years ago. He traces the disease from its beginnings in tropical Africa to its move into Europe. Malaria plagued Italy for centuries, and was not conquered until the inter-World War period when Mussolini's government largely eradicated it from the Roman Campagna and Pontine marshes. Its effects in England are especially well documented from the late Middle Ages; peaking in the 17th century, it was not eradicated until the 19th century. The economic and agricultural conditions that favoured it are examined, as is the role of transport in taking malaria-bearing mosquitoes to new parts of the globe. The hopes raised by medications and DDT are documented, as is the development of resistant strains, and the story is brought up to date with the way in which new social and economic factors cause fresh outbreaks world-wide, and the hopes raised by the Rolling Back Malaria campaign. The book has an excellent bibliography, and can be thoroughly recommended as a one-volume survey.