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Bezig met laden... De pest in de geschiedenis (1976)door William H. McNeill
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Dit boekje bevat twee korte lezingen die William H. McNeill bracht in 1979, op een moment dat hij zijn belangrijkste boeken had gepubliceerd: The Rise of the West (1963, de eerste echte aanzet tot een Global History), en Plagues and Peoples (1976, de eerste systematische studie van de invloed van ziekten in de wereldgeschiedenis). In 1982 zou ook The Pursuit of Power volgen, waarin hij de rol van technologie en militaire slagkracht zou uitdiepen. McNeill is altijd al de man van de grote lijn geweest, en in deze lezingen komt dat meer dan ooit tot uiting. Hij focust erin op twee grote processen die zoals twee maalstenen op elkaar liggen, elkaar ook in evenwicht houden: het microparasitaire (de rol van virussen en bacteriën) en het macroparasitaire (de rol van overheersing en uitbuiting op menselijk niveau). Dit is zeker niet het meest geslaagde werk van McNeill: zijn uitgangspunt doet wat geforceerd aan, en het beste bewijs daarvoor is dat hij zijn these niet helemaal kan volhouden. Meer daarover in mijn History-account op Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5802421001 ( ) "Plagues and Peoples" is a classic and a pioneering study at the same time. A classic, because McNeill draws from his rich knowledge of world history and looks at the problem of diseases and epidemics from a global point of view, with which he was several decades ahead of the recent World/Global History-movement. A pioneering study because this book is full of the hypotheses and guesses, and McNeill firmly acknowledges this, simply because before him (this book was published in 1976) hardly any research was done on this issue. The author constantly indicates deficits in source material and studies, and formulates a number of concrete research questions. I am not a specialist, but I hope that subsequent historians (and medical scientists) have done something with them. Finally, he also illustrates the particular complexity of the role of diseases in human history, with sometimes very paradoxical evolutions (as for instance the fact that initially very densely populated cities and regions were hard hit by diseases, but consequently were the first to develop immunity and thus gained an advantage on less densely populated regions). Definitely an interesting book, but I suspect (and hope) that in the meantime a number of hypotheses of McNeill were verified and confirmed or rejected, and would thus recommend to read a much more recent work on this matter. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)
Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history as seen through the extraordinary impact--political, demographic, ecological, and psychological--of disease on cultures. From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the history of humankind. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter has been added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his new introduction to this updated editon. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. "A brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews), it is essential reading, offering a new perspective on human history. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)614.49Technology Medicine and health Public Health Contagious and infectious diseases Epidemics; PlaguesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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