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Full Description
A collection of intimate and revelatory first-hand accounts of pandemics through the ages.
Humanity has always been struck by pestilence and pandemics, from the plagues of ancient Egypt to the pox that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, to Covid-19. People living through the crises have always recorded what they saw, what they felt, and what they did. Some presented sober facts laced with anecdote, while others produced emotional outpourings; moralists speculated on the origins of the horror, poets distilled the suffering. Doctors described how they were able to advance their understanding of disease and scientists how to cure it, while survivors and the families of victims gave the inside story of the nightmare that develops when a long-feared disease enters your home or your body.
There was a time when to read accounts of the Plague in Wittenburg by Martin Luther or the Great Plague of 1665 by Samuel Pepys - scenes of anguish and woe, empty streets, quarantined houses, closed businesses, overflowing graveyards, heroic doctors and nurses, quack remedies and charlatans - was to enter a disturbing and unfamiliar world. Today, to read the same words is to be hit by a jolt of recognition and understanding. As well as causing a huge loss of life, the Covid pandemic has taught us a great deal about ourselves and the way we live, illuminating tensions at the heart of society. This collection of intimate and revelatory first-hand accounts of pandemics through the ages bears witness to despair, rage, the blackest of humour, heartbreak and hope. These voices hold up a mirror to our own experiences of, and responses to, the crisis today.
Contents
Introduction
1. Plagues of Egypt
2. Athenian plague - 5th century BC
3. Antonine Plague - 2nd century AD
4. Plague of Justinian - 6th century
5. Leprosy - 11-14th centuries
6. Black Death - 14th century
7. Sweating sickness - 15-16th centuries
8. Syphilis - 16th century
9. Cocolitztli epidemic, Mexico - 16th century
10. New World Smallpox - 16-17th century
11. Great Plague (or Marseilles plague) - 1660s
12. Russian Plague - 1770s
13. Cholera - 1850s
14. Flu - 1890s
15. Spanish flu - 1910s
16. Polio - 1911 - 1980s
17. Asian flu - 1950s
18. Hong Kong flu - 1968
19. AIDS - 1980s
20. Swine flu - 2000s
21. SARs, MERs et al. - 2010s
22. Covid-19 - 2020s
Conclusion Timeline of Catastrophes
Index
