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Pathogenesis review: How infectious diseases have moulded civilisation

From the development of agriculture to the global rise of religions, Jonathan Kennedy's book describes how infectious diseases have been a decisive force in shaping human history

By Elle Hunt

26 April 2023

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1900: Giovanni Grewembroch - XVIII century. Manuscript: Doctor in Venice at the time of the plague. Watercolor. (Photo By DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/De Agostini via Getty Images)

A painting of an 18th-century doctor in Venice wearing a plague mask

De Agostini/Getty Images

Pathogenesis
Jonathan Kennedy (Torva/Penguin)

FROM the impact of epidemics on the rise and fall of empires to the part played by the Black Death in hastening the transition from a feudal, religious society to a capitalist, secular one, humankind has always taken advantage of (or fallen victim to) “circumstances created by microbes”, argues a new and timely book.

Pathogenesis: How germs made history is the first book by Jonathan Kennedy, who teaches global public health at Queen Mary …

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