Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Deaths from epidemic disease are rare in the developed world, yet in our technically and medically advanced society, an ever-present risk of disease has created an industry out of fear. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics often stray from the facts on the ground. In a fascinating exploration of the social and cultural history of epidemics, Alcabes delivers a different narrative of diseaseone that requires that we reexamine our choice of enemies, and carefully consider the potential motivation of epidemic alarm-bells to further medical, moral, or political campaigns.

Reviews

"the horrifying notion of epidemic disease is so ingrained that you will be halfway through this intriguing book before you realise just how hysterical we all are." BBC Focus Magazine "the next time you see someone wearing a face mask on the Tube...hit them over the head with (this) book"!!! The Sunday Times"

Author Bio

Philip Alcabes is an Associate Professor of Urban Public Health at Hunter College and Visiting Clinical Associate Professor at the Yale School of Nursing.