Author(s): Philip Alcabes

History

This is a fascinating 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. In "Dread", Philip Alcabes journeys through the history of epidemics, from the ancients to the present, to reveal how, more often than being pervasive threats, epidemics offer an accurate litmus test of our times, and our greatest fears. "Dread" dissects the fascinating story of the imagined epidemic: the one that we think is happening, or might happen; the one that frightens us, disguises moral meanings and political agendas and, at heart, reveals the deep seated fear within us all.