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6 Essential Nonfiction Accounts of Past Pandemics
Help stop the spread of coronavirus with knowledge of previous deadly diseases.
Published on February 25, 2020
Curated ByScribd Editors
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Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
Gina KolataThe 1918 influenza pandemic is among one of the deadliest in history. More than a quarter of the world’s population contracted this strain of flu during World War I, and more people ended up killed by the flu than by fighting on the battlefield. Could an infectious disease wreak such calamity in this day and age? “Flu” will give you the necessary perspective on this possibility.
The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris
Mark HonigsbaumThe 20th century was one full of technological gains that both helped combat and spread new infectious diseases. From relatively obscure viruses to serious catastrophes, Mark Honingsbaum chronicles nine pandemics from the past century. That historical background has a lot to reveal about the importance of keeping mass hysteria under control along with the diseases.
The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years
Sonia ShahMalaria has plagued humanity for thousands of years, and continues to be a huge threat in some parts of the world. “Sonia Shah’s tour-de-force history of malaria will convince you that the real soundtrack to our collective fate … is the syncopated whine-slap, whine-slap of man and mosquito duking it out over the eons,” according to The New York Times.
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82
Elizabeth A. FennSmallpox was a deadly foe during the American Revolution for all parties battling over the colonies, and it affected the trajectory of that war drastically, according to historian Elizabeth Fenn. This is a new look at the founding of a nation and how disease had far-reaching political consequences.
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century Part 2
Barbara Tuchman“In her award-winning 1978 narrative, [Barbara] Tuchman argued that many of the disruptive forces at work in the 14th century — war, religious schisms, the plague — played out again during the 20th century (hence the book’s title),” The New York Times wrote in a list on the best books about pandemics. It won the National Book Award for History.
Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
Richard PrestonMost people are struck by how this true account of the first outbreaks of Ebola in Africa and another in Virginia reads like a thriller. It’s one of those increasingly rare books that brought public awareness to a grave issue and helped shape a global conversation about the virus. In 2019, “The Hot Zone” was adapted into a miniseries by the National Geographic Channel.