Mary J. Dobson Books

This study offers a comprehensive examination of disease and mortality patterns in early modern England, analyzing geographical and demographic factors that influenced health outcomes. It highlights the interplay between social conditions and epidemiological trends, providing valuable insights into the public health landscape of the era. The research, first published in 1997, contributes to the understanding of historical health crises and their implications for contemporary public health discussions.

Disease is the true serial killer of human history: the horrors of bubonic plague, cholera, syphilis, smallpox, tuberculosis and the like have claimed more lives and caused more misery than the depredations of warfare, famine and natural disasters combined. Murderous Contagion tells the compelling and at times unbearably moving story of the devastating impact of diseases on humankind - from the Black Death of the 14th century to the Spanish flu of 1918-19 and the AIDS epidemic of the modern era. In this book Mary Dobson also relates the endeavours of physicians and scientists to understand and identify the causes of diseases and find ways of preventing them. This is a timely and revelatory work of popular history by a writer whose knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, her subject shines through her every word.

V sérii zrozumiteľných, fascinujúcich a informatívnych článkov autorka Mary Dobson opisuje vznik a šírenie 30 najzávažnejších a najobávanejších chorôb v dejinách ľudstva - od tuberkulózy po týfus, od AIDS po ebolu. Zatriedené sú do štyroch kategórií: bakteriálne choroby, parazitárne choroby, vírusové choroby a civilizačné choroby. Každá kapitola prináša široký prehľad a chronológiu príslušnej choroby spolu s opisom jej vplyvu na ľudskú spoločnosť i s odhalením jej pôvodcu. Kniha je obohatená o 150 pozoruhodných ilustrácií. Obsiahle chronológie výskytu nákaz a početné pútavé i dojemné citáty dotvárajú pôsobivý rad zaujímavých charakteristík knihy.