Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 - Audio
By Frank Snowden
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Description
This course consists of an international analysis of the impact of epidemic diseases on western society and culture from the bubonic plague to HIV/AIDS and the recent experience of SARS and swine flu. Leading themes include: infectious disease and its impact on society; the development of public health measures; the role of medical ethics; the genre of plague literature; the social reactions of mass hysteria and violence; the rise of the germ theory of disease; the development of tropical medicine; a comparison of the social, cultural, and historical impact of major infectious diseases; and the issue of emerging and re-emerging diseases.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
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1 |
26 - Final Q and A | Professor Snowden describes the final exam, and takes questions from students. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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2 |
25 - SARS, Avian Influenza, Swine Flu: Lessons and Prospects | SARS, avian influenza and swine flu are the first new diseases of the twenty-first century. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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3 |
24 - Poliomyelitis: Problems of Eradication | The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the largest public health campaign ever launched, began in 1988 with the ambition of achieving its goal by the year 2000. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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4 |
23 - AIDS (II) | Dr. Margaret Craven discusses HIV/AIDS from the perspective of a front-line clinician. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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5 |
22 - AIDS (I) | The global AIDS pandemic furnishes a case study for many of the themes addressed throughout the course. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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6 |
21 - The Tuskegee Experiment | The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out in Macon, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972, is a notorious episode in the checkered history of medical experimentation. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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7 |
20 - Pandemic Influenza | Reliable records of influenza, dating back to the 1700s, suggest a pattern of one major pandemic every century. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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8 |
19 - Tuberculosis (II): After Robert Koch | The cultural transition from the romantic era of consumption to the era of tuberculosis derived not only from the germ theory of disease and the triumph of contagionism over anticontagionism, but also from political considerations. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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9 |
18 - Tuberculosis (I): The Era of Consumption | An ancient disease, tuberculosis experienced a major upsurge in Western Europe in the nineteenth century, corresponding with increasing industrialization and urbanization. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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10 |
17 - Malaria (II): The Global Challenge | In the last decade of the nineteenth century, malariology emerged as the most prestigious and intellectually exciting field in the new discipline of tropical medicine. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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11 |
16 - Malaria (I): The Case of Italy | Of all the diseases studied in this course, malaria has been responsible for the most human suffering. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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12 |
15 - Tropical Medicine as a Discipline | The sub-discipline of tropical medicine furnishes a clear example of the socially constructed character of medical knowledge. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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13 |
14 - The Germ Theory of Disease | Although the development of the germ theory of disease in the latter half of the nineteenth century marks a major revolution in medical science, it cannot be reduced to the heroic efforts of a single researcher or group of researchers. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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14 |
13 - Contagionism and Anticontagionism | The debate between contagionists and anticontagionists over the transmission of infectious diseases played a major role in nineteenth-century medical discourse. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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15 |
12 - Syphilis: From the "Great Pox" to the Modern Version | There is a longstanding debate over the origins of syphilis, in which arguments over how the disease arrived in Europe have historically been linked to racist and xenophobic ideologies as well as to scientific and historical research. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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16 |
11 - Asiatic Cholera (II): Five Pandemics | The sanitary movement was an approach to public health first developed in England in the 1830s and '40s. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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17 |
10 - Asiatic Cholera (II): Five Pandemics | Asiatic cholera was the most dreaded disease of the nineteenth century. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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18 |
09 - Asiatic Cholera (I): Personal Reflections | Professor Snowden describes the historical detective work that went into the research and writing of Naples in the Time of Cholera, his study of the 1884 and 1911 epidemics of Asiatic cholera that struck Italy. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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19 |
08 - Nineteenth-Century Medicine: The Paris School of Medicine | In the decades immediately following the French Revolution, Paris was at the center of a series of major developments in medical science, sometimes described as the transition from medieval to modern medicine. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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20 |
07 - Smallpox (II): Jenner, Vaccination, and Eradication | It is not known for certain when smallpox first appeared in Europe; however, the disease reached its highpoint in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when it persisted as an endemic disease while periodically erupting as an epidemic. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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21 |
06 - Smallpox (I): 'The Speckled Monster' | In the eighteenth century, smallpox succeeded plague as the most feared disease. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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22 |
05 - Plague (III): Illustrations and Conclusions | One of the major cultural consequences of the second plague pandemic was its effect on attitudes towards death and the "art of dying." | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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23 |
04 - Plague (II): Responses and Measures | Community responses to the bubonic plague ranged from the flight of a privileged few to widespread panic and the persecution of foreigners and other stigmatized social groups. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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24 |
03 - Plague (I): Pestilence as a Disease | The bubonic plague is the measure by which succeeding epidemics have long been measured. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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25 |
02 - Classical Views of Disease: Hippocrates, Galen, and Humoralism | The form of medicine that arose in fifth-century Greece, associated with the name of Hippocrates and later popularized by Galen, marked a major innovation in the treatment of disease. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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26 |
01 - Introduction to the Course | Epidemics, or high-impact infectious diseases, have had an historical impact equal to that of wars, revolutions and economic crises. | 3/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 26 Items |
Customer Reviews
Excellent historical context for Covid-19.
This was a thought provoking course. I highly recommend it.
Great author, poor lecturer.
Loved his book. His lectures are awkward.
Well worth the time
This was an absolutely fascinating take on the subject of history of disease. It's true that the professor sounds somewhat pompous and scripted, but that actually made the audio version very good for listening (that and the very good audio quality). Actually, I thought he sounded a bit like Dr. Evil, as he discussed some of the more gruesome aspects of the diseases, but the quality of the lectures and the quality of their content made this a very enjoyable course. One drawback of the audio version is that he does show some graphs and pictures, however, the course was so interesting, I am considering skimming over the video at some point to see what I missed.
