Epidemics in Modern Asia

Epidemics have played a critical role in shaping modern Asia. Encompassing two centuries of Asian history, Robert Peckham explores the profound impact that infectious disease has had on societies across the region: from India to China and the Russian Far East. The book tracks the links between biology, history, and geopolitics, highlighting infectious disease's interdependencies with empire, modernization, revolution, nationalism, migration, and transnational patterns of trade. By examining the history of Asia through the lens of epidemics, Peckham vividly illustrates how society's material conditions are entangled with social and political processes, offering an entirely fresh perspective on Asia's transformation.

List of contents

Introduction: contagious histories; 1. Mobility; 2. Cities; 3. Environment; 4. War; 5. Globalization; Conclusion: epidemics and the end of history; Glossary; Select timeline; Suggested reading; Index.

About the author

Robert Peckham is Associate Professor in History and Co-Director of the Centre for the Humanities and Medicine at The University of Hong Kong. His recent books include Imperial Contagions: Medicine, Hygiene, and Cultures of Planning in Asia (co-editor, 2013) and Empires of Panic: Epidemics and Colonial Anxieties (editor, 2015).

Summary

The first history of epidemics in modern Asia. Robert Peckham considers the varieties of responses that epidemics have elicited - from India to China and the Russian Far East - and examines the processes that have helped to produce and diffuse disease across the region.

Product details

• Authors: Robert Peckham, Robert (The University of Hong Kong) Peckham, Peckham Robert
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.04.2016
• EAN: 9781107084681
• ISBN: 978-1-107-08468-1
• No. of pages: 374
• Series: New Approaches to Asian Histor; New Approaches to Asian Histor; New Approaches to Asian History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Asia, HISTORY / Asia / General, MEDICAL / History, MEDICAL / Infectious Diseases, History of Medicine, Infectious & contagious diseases, Asian History, Infectious and contagious diseases