Plagues and Peoples [first edition]

1977, British hardcover edition, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, U.K. 371 pages. Written by a respected University of Chicago professor, this is one challenging, brilliantly conceived title. Shows how diseases and viruses have literally brought on political and social upheavals throughout history. Documents smallpox and measles epidemics, influenza, syphilis, cholera, malaria, and much more. Something all of us sometimes forget is the 1918-1919 epidemic of influenza that claimed 21 million victims. "A brilliant and challenging approach to history."