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A History of the World in Six Plagues
How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to COVID-19
Table of Contents
About The Book
A deeply reported, insightful, and literary account of humankind’s battles with epidemic disease, and their outsized role in deepening inequality along racial, ethnic, class, and gender lines—in the vein of Medical Apartheid and Killing the Black Body.
Epidemic diseases enter the world by chance, but they become catastrophic by human design.
With clear-eyed research and lush prose, A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health.
Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme’s examination of humanity’s disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease. Based on in-depth research and cultural analysis, Bonhomme explores Cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, Sleeping Sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19 amidst the backdrop of unequal public policy. But much more than a remarkable history, A History of the World in Six Plagues is also a rising call for change.
Epidemic diseases enter the world by chance, but they become catastrophic by human design.
With clear-eyed research and lush prose, A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health.
Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme’s examination of humanity’s disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease. Based on in-depth research and cultural analysis, Bonhomme explores Cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, Sleeping Sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19 amidst the backdrop of unequal public policy. But much more than a remarkable history, A History of the World in Six Plagues is also a rising call for change.
About The Author
Photograph by Carleen Coulter
Edna Bonhomme is a historian of science, culture writer, and book critic whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, Esquire, Frieze magazine, The Guardian, The Nation, London Review of Books, The Washington Post, and more. She is coeditor of After Sex, a collection of essays, poems, and short stories. She earned a PhD from Princeton University, a master’s degree from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from Reed College. She previously held fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Camargo Foundation, Baldwin for the Arts, and Nancy B. Negley Artists Residency Program at Maison Dora Maar. Edna is a recipient of the Robert Silvers Foundation Grant for Works in Progress and the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Grant.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers (March 11, 2025)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982197834
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Raves and Reviews
"A breathtaking journey through the intertwined histories of contagions and systemic inequities that have shaped our history. Poignantly insightful and compelling, Bonhomme not only sheds light on past injustices but challenges us to confront our history and envision a more compassionate future."
—Uché Blackstock, New York Times bestselling author of Legacy
"Pandemics thrive on inequities and widen them, providing more kindling for future plagues. This simple lesson has proven devastatingly difficult to learn. But I think that if everyone read Edna Bonhomme’s incredible, humane, insightful book--and I hope they do--we might stand a chance of actually breaking the cycle of neglect and panic."
—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers I Contain Multitudes and An Immense World
"Edna Bonhomme narrates centuries of the human-microbial dance, laying out how our destinies, liberties, and values are determined by how humans negotiate life on earth with our smallest living neighbors. Brilliant, tender and illuminating."
—Steven W. Thrasher, PhD, author of the award-winning book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
“An expansive portraiture of how colonialism and confinement have influenced our understanding of illness and humanity. Thankfully, due to the author's talent and sheer strength in combining personal narrative with history, this book is also tender as it tackles some of the most stigmatized subjects of our time.”
—Morgan Jerkins, New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing
“This meticulously researched book shows us the ways that contagious illness frustrates humankind's instinct for control, and how people have found ways to care for one another in the worst of circumstances. A powerful book that shines a light on the parts of life we'd rather ignore, and the beauty that can arise from horror."
—Sarah Jaffe, author of From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution
"This book is a tour de force! A brilliant and beautifully written account of the contours of contagion, health, race, gender, confinement, class, and space across multiple centuries and geohistories. A History of the World in Six Plagues will change how people think about public health and histories of medicine."
—Dr. Tiffany N. Florvil, Associate Professor of History at The University of New Mexico and author of Mobilizing Black Germany
"Equal Parts intimate portrait of illness and piercing analysis of our socio-political predicament. From empires to modern states, no civilization escapes the consequences of a plague. Let this book be a guide for our pandemic past, present, and probable--but by no means inescapable--future."
—George Aumoithe, Assistant Professor of History at Harvard University
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