"A vibrant cultural history investigating the tangled and complex history of pandemics and vaccines, by bestselling author and historian Simon Schama"--Dust jacket flap. Pandemics have been a constant presence throughout human history, as humans and disease have lived side by side for millennia. Over the centuries, our ability to react to these sweeping killers has evolved, most notably through the development of vaccines. The story of disease eradication is one of science-- and politics, culture, and deeply personal. Schama ranges across continents and centuries as he unpacks the stories of the often-unknown individuals whose pioneering work changed the face of modern healthcare. Questioning why the occurrence of pandemics appears to be accelerating at an alarming rate, Schama looks into our impact on the natural world, and how that in turn is affecting us, all while interrogating how geopolitics has had a devastating effect on global health. -- adapted from Goodreads.

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2023 by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd." -- Title page verso.

Prologue --Et in suburbia ego -- Part one: East to west: smallpox. 'The fresh and kindly pock' -- Safely! Quickly! Pleasantly! -- Part two: West to east: cholera. Proust's travels -- Sans frontières -- Part three: Power and pestilence: plague. The death of rats -- Calamity snaps -- Carbolic -- Departures -- And in the end...