The Black Death and Other Harbingers of Change in World History By Robert J Konczal.

The Black Death and Other Harbingers of

Change in World History By Robert J

Konczal

Disease and History by Frederick F.

Cartwright and Michael D. Biddiss

Overall, this non-fiction book attempts to argue that epidemic disease has had more effect on history than many wish to admit. It traces the effects of disease from Ancient times, through the Middle Ages to the fall of the Russian Monarchy. Each era is viewed from a histo-medical perspective, meaning the history of one particular disease are analyze to determine its long-term effects on history as a whole.

• What did more damage to the Roman Empire?

• In the first part of his book, Cartwright provides evidence to support his theory that malaria and contaminated water supplies, did worse damage to the Romans than the barbarian invasions from the North. He also proposes that Christianity took root more easily in Rome because of the idea of Christ as the “Healer of Humankind”—thus changing the course of European history forever.

Black Death: A Middle Ages Catastrophe

• The Black Death or bubonic plague is the next part of Cartwright’s book. His book uses many primary sources of the times to describe the horrendous times Europe went through with the Black Death. Cartwright links this natural catastrophe to reasons why Jews were further persecuted by Christians at this time---the Jews poisoned wells and spread the plague. This is important because it set a precedent of using the Jews as scapegoats for anything that goes wrong---a precedent that eventually results in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

More Fun Diseases that Ravaged the World:• The last section of the book

details other epidemics that have influenced world history. They include syphilis and Henry VIII, typhus and the Napoleonic Wars, and hemophilia and Czarist Russia. His theories regarding syphilis and the English Crown are especially interesting because it alludes to the fact that Henry VIII may have been experiencing a mental deterioration brought upon by the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis when he broke from the Church and began the English Reformation.

Early Medicine Practices --Quarantine: The Needs of the Many outweighing the Needs of the Few… The word “quarantine” comes from the Latin meaning “forty”. It pertains to the practice of refusing a ship to land for 40 days if it is suspected of having a devastating disease abroad.

Quarantine: Leprosy was a disease that cultures attempted to quarantine since Biblical times. Many places forced lepers to live in hollows or pits where they were not allowed to leave. They lived off of the charity of others for delivery of food etc.

Quarantine: Many places refused to lift a quarantine if the disease was much feared and infectious. For example, during an outbreak of the Black Death, the Scottish of Edinburgh blockaded large numbers of plague victims unto a city of themselves where they survived for many months until a fire broke out within it---some said set by the government themselves.

Quarantine: Sexually transmitted disease baffled and terrified people of the past (just as much as it does today). Here, a syphilis patient is locked inside a giant oven to receive treatments of extreme heat and pain. The caption on the oven translates as "For one pleasure a thousand pains."

Quarantine:

This house was the long-term quarantine of Mary Mallon, better known to history as Typhoid Mary. This women was naturally immune to typhoid fever but was a host of the disease.

Mary was forced to live here from 1907 to 1910 and again from 1915 until her death in 1938.

Quarantine is still used today if an outbreak of a highly and deadly infectious disease is discovered. In America where liberty is paramount, quarantine fascinates the public. Hollywood frequently taps into this with movies like Outbreak, 28 Days, The Stand, Omega Man, and The Seventh Seal.

References

• Cartwright, Frederick F. Disease and History. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1991.

• Gallagher, Patricia E., and Stephen J. Greenberg. "The History of Diseases." History of the Health Sciences World Wide Web Links. 02 Dec. 2006. Medical Library Association. 02 Jan. 2007 <www.mla-hhss.org/histdis.htm>.

• "The Most Dangerous Women Alive--a History of Quarantine." PBS Online. Aug. 2004. 03 Jan. 2007 <www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ typhoid/quarantine. html>.