Epidemics and the Modern World

"Epidemics and the Modern World is both an excellent reference for non-specialist scholars and an introduction to the modern history of medicine for advanced students and generalist audiences. Most helpfully, the author places medical terminology in bold and includes a glossary of terms at the end of the book, including primary sources for discussion throughout the text."

Louie Dean Valencia-García, Europe Now April 2020

"Mitchell Hammond’s excellent survey of a dozen deadly diseases is a must-read primer to make sense of epidemic history. In Epidemics and the Modern World, he balances the science of disease etiology and disease cycles with political, socio-economic, and cultural contexts. Read this book!"

Michael G. Vann, New Books Network March 2021

"The primary intended audience for this book is clearly the undergraduate student, but anyone looking for a single-volume synthesis on the history of infectious disease would find tremendous value in this book."

Jim Harris, Ohio State University, Social History of Medicine

"This is an excellent publication that comes at exactly the right time and will have a great influence on how the inevitably increasing number of courses on this topic will be taught. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone teaching or studying for a course in this field and am myself planning to use it next term."

Jakob Lehne, Medical University of Vienna, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History

"Epidemics and the Modern World is a masterful treatment of the complex relationship between humans and pathogens from a truly holistic perspective."

Taylor P. van Doren, University of Missouri, World Medical & Health Policy

"This is a most welcome, student-friendly textbook on the history of human disease since the Black Death. Alive to the many issues surrounding disease history, Epidemics and the Modern World is a smoothly readable text, complemented by many documents, maps, and images. Hammond’s book will make it a lot easier to teach the subject."

J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University

"Engaging to read, Epidemics and the Modern World uses fascinating stories to appeal to students and teachers, weaving together global modernity and disease. The inclusion of Science Focus workshops is an innovative way to explore evolving medical understandings of disease to humanities and social science students. Visually appealing, this is going to be a popular textbook."　

Esyllt Jones, University of Manitoba