The pandemic century: one hundred years of panic, hysteria, and hubris
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Language:
English
Description
A medical historian narrates the last century of scientific struggle against an enduring enemy: deadly contagious disease. Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu to the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 'parrot fever' pandemic, through the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last one hundred years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms. In The Pandemic Century, a lively account of scares both infamous and less known, Mark Honigsbaum combines reportage with the history of science and medical sociology to artfully reconstruct epidemiological mysteries and the ecology of infectious diseases. We meet dedicated disease detectives, obstructive or incompetent public health officials, and brilliant scientists often blinded by their own knowledge of bacteria and viruses. We also see how fear of disease often exacerbates racial, religious, and ethnic tensions even though, as the epidemiologists Malik Peiris and Yi Guan write, ''nature' remains the greatest bioterrorist threat of all.' Like man-eating sharks, predatory pathogens are always present in nature, waiting to strike; when one is seemingly vanquished, others appear in its place. These pandemics remind us of the limits of scientific knowledge, as well as the role that human behavior and technologies play in the emergence and spread of microbial diseases.
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Contributors:
ISBN:
9780393541311
9780393254754
9781684419883
9780393254754
9781684419883
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 5abbcb93-ab55-f38e-abcb-11730425e7ce |
---|---|
Grouping Title | pandemic century one hundred years of panic hysteria and hubris |
Grouping Author | mark honigsbaum |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2025-08-14 08:31:35AM |
Last Indexed | 2025-08-14 22:47:46PM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
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auth_author2
Lee, John
author
Honigsbaum, Mark
author2-role
Lee, John,reader
hoopla digital
hoopla digital
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Honigsbaum, Mark
detailed_location_eh
East Hampton Adult Nonfiction
display_description
A medical historian narrates the last century of scientific struggle against an enduring enemy: deadly contagious disease. Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu to the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 'parrot fever' pandemic, through the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last one hundred years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms. In The Pandemic Century, a lively account of scares both infamous and less known, Mark Honigsbaum combines reportage with the history of science and medical sociology to artfully reconstruct epidemiological mysteries and the ecology of infectious diseases. We meet dedicated disease detectives, obstructive or incompetent public health officials, and brilliant scientists often blinded by their own knowledge of bacteria and viruses. We also see how fear of disease often exacerbates racial, religious, and ethnic tensions even though, as the epidemiologists Malik Peiris and Yi Guan write, ''nature' remains the greatest bioterrorist threat of all.' Like man-eating sharks, predatory pathogens are always present in nature, waiting to strike; when one is seemingly vanquished, others appear in its place. These pandemics remind us of the limits of scientific knowledge, as well as the role that human behavior and technologies play in the emergence and spread of microbial diseases.
format_category_eh
Audio Books
Books
eBook
Books
eBook
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Book
eAudiobook
eAudiobook
id
5abbcb93-ab55-f38e-abcb-11730425e7ce
isbn
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9780393541311
9781684419883
9780393541311
9781684419883
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ADULT BOOK
ADULT BOOK
last_indexed
2025-08-15T04:47:46.426Z
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literary_form
Non Fiction
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Non Fiction
local_callnumber_eh
614.4 HON
owning_library_eh
East Hampton Public Library
owning_location_eh
East Hampton Public Library
primary_isbn
9780393541311
publishDate
2019
publisher
Highbridge Company
W. W. Norton & Company
W. W. Norton & Company
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Communicable diseases
Communicable diseases -- History -- 20th century
Epidemics -- History -- 20th century
Epidemics -- History -- 21st century
Epidemiology
Health
Infection
Medicine
Communicable diseases -- History -- 20th century
Epidemics -- History -- 20th century
Epidemics -- History -- 21st century
Epidemiology
Health
Infection
Medicine
title_display
The pandemic century : one hundred years of panic, hysteria, and hubris
title_full
The Pandemic Century : One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris [electronic resource] / Mark Honigsbaum
The pandemic century : one hundred years of panic, hysteria, and hubris / Mark Honigsbaum
The pandemic century : one hundred years of panic, hysteria, and hubris / Mark Honigsbaum
title_short
The pandemic century
title_sub
one hundred years of panic, hysteria, and hubris
topic_facet
Communicable diseases
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Health
History
Infection
Medicine
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Health
History
Infection
Medicine
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