Plagues and Peoples

Plagues and Peoples
Cover of the first edition
AuthorWilliam H. McNeill
LanguageEnglish
Subjectsepidemiological history
GenreNon-fiction
Published1976
PublisherAnchor Books, Garden City, New York
Publication placeUS
Pages369
ISBN978-0-385-12122-4

Plagues and Peoples is a book on epidemiological history by historian William H. McNeill, published by Anchor Books in 1976. It was a critical and popular success, presenting a then novel view of infectious disease as both enabled by social and environmental conditions and molding the development of cultures.

Content

McNeill, a historian at the University of Chicago, analyzed epidemics as social as well as biological events, mediated by ecological, economic, and cultural factors[1] and in turn affecting the fate of cultures and thus central to history.[2][3][4][5][6] The book examines the effects of epidemics including smallpox in Mexico, the bubonic plague in China, typhoid in Europe,[7] and the Athenian plague,[8] and suggested a modified flu virus was likely to cause the next pandemic.[4] McNeill wrote in the introduction that the impetus for his researching and writing the book was the role played by smallpox in the fall of the Aztec Empire.[4]

McNeill also makes a broader comparison of civilization to disease, as a "macroparasite" that weakens societies but also confers political and bureaucratic protection as endemic diseases can confer protection against severe outbreaks of infection.[2][3][9] He envisaged a crucial balance between disease-causing "microparasites" and human "macroparasites"[8] and warned that human "parasitism" on the earth might lead to ecological catastrophe.[4]

Publication history

Plagues and Peoples was first published in the United States in 1976 by Anchor Books, a division of Doubleday.[3][8][10] A UK edition was published by Basil Blackwell in 1977.[11][12] With the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, a new preface was added to the book[5] in 1998.[13]

Reception

Plagues and Peoples was a critical success, hailed as a rare synthesis of patterns in epidemiology from a global perspective.[3][8][9][14][15] It sold well and has remained in print into the 2020s.[4]

The view presented in the book of epidemic disease as both a biological and a social phenomenon, its spread affected by environmental and social conditions, is now accepted within epidemiology.[1] It has been influential in historical studies. In particular, along with Alfred W. Crosby's The Columbian Exchange, McNeill's book popularized the view that European expansion into the Americas was facilitated by the diseases it introduced into indigenous populations.[2]

The book has been criticized as lacking evidence for some of its assertions[10][16] and as Eurocentric, and some arguments have since been undermined, such as McNeill's rejection of a New World origin for syphilis.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Sommerfeld, Johannes (2003). "Plagues and peoples revisited". EMBO Reports. 4 (suppl. 1): 532–34. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.embor845.
  2. ^ a b c d Whelchel, Aaron (October 2005). "Book Review: McNeill, William. Plagues and Peoples". World History Connected. 3 (1).
  3. ^ a b c d Leonard, John (October 25, 1976). "Books of the Times: PLAGUES AND PEOPLES. By William H. McNeill". The New York Times. p. 26.
  4. ^ a b c d e Harris, James Thornton (April 5, 2020). "Historian William McNeill Warned in 1976 that a Mutated Flu Virus Could Cause a Pandemic". History News Network.
  5. ^ a b Young, Ryan (September 2, 2020). "Retro Review: William H. McNeill – Plagues and Peoples (1976)". Competitive Enterprise Institute.
  6. ^ Rowe, Adam (March 23, 2020). "Humanity's Greatest Foe: Pandemics Through the Ages". Quillette.
  7. ^ Walker, Frank B. (September 11, 1976). "Contagious conquerors". The Montreal Star. p. 37 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b c d Thomas, Keith (September 30, 1976). "Epidemic Man". New York Review of Books.
  9. ^ a b "PLAGUES AND PEOPLES by William H. McNeill". Kirkus Reviews. 1976. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Norris, John (Spring 1979). "William H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples". Bulletin of the History of Medicine (review). 53 (1): 145–47. JSTOR 44451303.
  11. ^ "Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill". Journal of Biosocial Science (review). 9 (4): 501–03. 1977. doi:10.1017/S0021932000011330.
  12. ^ "Plagues and Peoples. By W. H. McNeill". Psychological Medicine (review). 8 (2): 351. May 1978. doi:10.1017/S0033291700014495.
  13. ^ Subero, Gustavo (2016) [2013]. HIV in World Cultures: Three Decades of Representations. Abingdon / New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4094-5398-7.
  14. ^ Hollingsworth, T. H. (February 1978). "Plagues and Peoples William H. McNeill". The Economic History Review (review). 31 (1): 167. doi:10.2307/2595819. JSTOR 2595819.
  15. ^ Norling, Bernard (October 1977). "William H. McNeill: Plagues and Peoples". The Review of Politics (review). 39 (4): 557–60. JSTOR 1407297.
  16. ^ Ell, Stephen R. (March 1979). "Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill". The Journal of Modern History (review). 51 (1): 118–21. JSTOR 1877880.
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