Dread

Takes you on a journey through the history of epidemics that focuses on the less-told story of how societies have responded collectively to them - and what those responses reveal about our fears, beliefs, and the times in question.

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Deaths from epidemic disease are rare in the developed world, yet in our technically and medically advanced society, an ever-present risk of disease has created an industry out of fear. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread , our anxieties about epidemics often stray from the facts on the ground. In a fascinating exploration of the social and cultural history of epidemics, Alcabes delivers a different narrative of disease,one that requires that we reexamine our choice of enemies, and carefully consider the potential motivation of epidemic alarm-bells to further medical, moral, or political campaigns.