Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Humanity's Burden
  • Cited by 14
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2015
Print publication year:
2008
Online ISBN:
9780511808401
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808401
Series:
Studies in Environment and History
Subjects:
Regional and World History: General Interest, History, Regional History after 1500
Information

Book description

Humanity's Burden provides a panoramic overview of the history of malaria. It traces the long arc of malaria out of tropical Africa into Eurasia, its transfer to the Americas during the early years of the Columbian exchange, and its retraction from the middle latitudes into the tropics since the late nineteenth century. Adopting a broadly comparative approach to historical patterns and processes, it synthesizes research findings from the natural and social sciences and weaves these understandings into a narrative that reaches from the earliest evidence of malaria infections in tropical Africa up to the present. Written in a style that is easily accessible to non-specialists, it considers the significance of genetic mutations, diet, lifestyle, migration, warfare, palliative and curative treatment, and efforts to interrupt transmission on the global distribution of malaria.

Reviews

'No disease is more indicative of social and environmental change than malaria. Its geographical distribution and incidence have been intimately related to all fields of human endeavour, from the production of food to upheavals such as war and mass migration. James Webb's ecological history of malaria provides keen insights into this persistent affliction and into the history of humanity itself. His magisterial synthesis will be admired by historians and malariologists alike.'

Mark Harrison - University of Oxford

'A lucid and stimulating account of how malaria has become the extraordinarily complex disease that it is today. The reader learns of the multitude of factors that have contributed to malaria's diversity and spread – physical ecology, population movements, war, agricultural practices, application of prophylaxis measures, availability of drugs, et al – each with its own history. Those who wish to control malaria will learn why their measures must be tailored to each situation according to how this history has played out locally, if they wish to avoid the trap of assuming that what works in one place will work elsewhere.'

Socrates Litsios - Retired WHO Senior ScientistAuthor of The Tomorrow of Malaria

'Humanity's Burden is a remarkable effort; superbly researched, elegantly expressed, and possessed of an unstinting clarity of purpose.'

Source: The Lancet

'Humanity's Burden is testimony of a twofold success. The work offers a historico-epidemiological synthesis devoid of unnecessary technical language on a serious pathology of utmost importance in the world today. Epidemiologists, economists, anthropologists and students can draw on it with considerable benefit. It is also a very convincing essay on global history, both from inside (explaining the persistence of the virulence of the infection by studying the connections between different local epidemiologies) and from outside (integrating the advances in the social and natural science). The book is enriched by an abundant bibliography.'

Source: Medical History

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.