AIDS. Ebola. "Killer microbes." All around us the alarms are going off, warning of the danger of new, deadly diseases. And yet, as Nancy Tomes reminds us in her absorbing book, this is really nothing new. A remarkable work of medical and cultural history, The Gospel of Germs takes us back to the first great "germ panic" in American history, which peaked in the early 1900s, to e...(展开全部)

Nancy Tomes is Professor of History, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and author of The Art of Asylum-Keeping: Thomas Story Kirkbride and the Origins of American Psychiatry.

The author reminds us that outbreaks of germs like AIDS and Ebola is nothing new, and that the first great "germ panic" in American history peaked in the early 1900s. Exploring the modern disease consciousness, Nancy Tomes shows how advances in bacteriology in the late-19th century showed people that they could prevent disease by taking precautions. Drawing upon sources like ad...(展开全部)

The author reminds us that outbreaks of germs like AIDS and Ebola is nothing new, and that the first great "germ panic" in American history peaked in the early 1900s. Exploring the modern disease consciousness, Nancy Tomes shows how advances in bacteriology in the late-19th century showed people that they could prevent disease by taking precautions. Drawing upon sources like ad...(展开全部)