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 inDread, 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.
is an Associate Professor of Urban Public Health at Hunter College and Visiting Clinical Associate Professor at the Yale School of Nursing.
![Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/0/0/4/2_5863602.jpg "Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu [Paperback]")