The German translation of A History of the World in Six Plagues (Eingesperrt und ausgegrenzt) has been shortlisted for the Best Science Book Prize in Austria.
A deeply reported, insightful, and literary account of humankind’s battles with epidemic disease, and their outsized role in deepening inequality.
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN SIX PLAGUES named one of the most anticipated microhistories in 2025 by Scientific American, Best feminist books for March 2025 by Ms. Magazine, Selected Reading for March 2025 by Ebony Magazine, and Best nonfiction by Bookbub.
“A searing attack on historical injustices." -Kirkus Review
“Bonhomme’s frank, timely critique of the Western medical field and our faltering health care system reveals how it is deeply entangled with colonialism and capitalism.” -BookPage
A History of the World in Six Plagues explores the deep connection between contagion and confinement through six diseases and six case studies: cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, sleeping sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19. The book examines humanity’s approach to pandemic diseases, taking readers on a journey across different places and times, from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania and from plantation-era America to today’s COVID-19-affected world. This is a vivid account of how we can be more humane.
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“Pandemics thrive on inequities and widen them, providing more kindling for future plagues. This simple lesson has proven devastatingly difficult to learn. But I think that if everyone read Edna Bonhomme’s incredible, humane, insightful book--and I hope they do--we might stand a chance of actually breaking the cycle of neglect and panic.”
—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers I Contain Multitudes and An Immense World
‘Fascinating and thought-provoking.’
—Jonathan Kennedy, author of Pathogenesis: How Germs Made History
"A fierce polemic arguing that minorities and the poor suffer when diseases rage because governments and the medical profession give them short shrift... Searing."
—Kirkus
“This book is dripping with well-researched and clearly explained information on every page. A crucial read for anybody interested in how to maintain and support the health of our whole community.”
—The Seattle Times
"Engaging and poignant."
—Salon
"Deeply compassionate... A History of the World in Six Plagues could not be more urgent."
—The Baffler