Rats, Lice and History (Social Science Classics Series)

by Hans Zinsser (Editor)

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $62.18

  The typhus pathogen was transmitted by rat fleas to human beings, who then transmitted it to other humans and in some strains from human to human. This book is devoted to a discussion of the biology of typhus and history of typhus fever in human affairs.

• Used

  Paperback
  1984

  $3.47

  Rats, Lice and History is a brilliant chronicle of the impact of epidemics on society. Author Hans Zinsser provides a spirited and illuminating account of the nature of infectious diseases, examining how they afflicted the ancient world and how epidemic diseases influenced political and military history. At the heart of this book is Zinsser's intriguing biography of a bacillus, in which he tracks the origins and growth of typhus, one of the most devastating epidemics in the history of humankind. In the age of AIDS this 1934 classic stands as an insightful reminder of how other cultures confronted a major epidemic.