A History of the World in Six Plagues

A History of the World in Six Plagues is a timely examination of the role that confinement has played in fostering and hindering epidemics.

In a rare blend of rigorous research and truly compelling story-telling, Dr Edna Bonhomme traces the long history of viral outbreaks under conditions of social confinement-the plantation system, colonial camps, imprisonment, quarantine, factories-and reveals how these enclosed spaces fuel epidemics.

This is a book about the complicated histories of movement and stagnation, and about the time we live in, with a focus on the racialised history of several key epidemics from the impact of cholera on the plantation economy to HIV/AIDS outbreaks in US prisons.

Dr. Edna Bonhomme is a historian of science and writer. Currently a research fellow at the Munich Centre for Global History at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, she earned her PhD in the history of science from Princeton University and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University. She is a recipient of a Camargo Foundation Fellowship. She has written for popular press and academic journals, including Aljazeera, gal-dem, The Baffler, The Guardian, The Nation, Africa is a Country and The New Republic.

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