In A History of the World in Six Plagues, historian and culture writer Edna Bonhomme demonstrates with irrefutable detail and narrative skill the historical relationship between the continued spread of disease and the subjugation of racial groups. A great strength of the book is the structure suggested by its title. The chapter-by-chapter focus on six plagues--cholera, HIV/AIDS, the 1918-19 flu epidemic, sleeping sickness, Ebola, and Covid-19--allows Bonhomme to chart recurring patterns of inequity across different time periods and geographical locations. She shows how these patterns are not coincidental but rather the result of systemic forces and individuals within them that have consistently marginalized and oppressed certain groups.
Bonhomme's writing is incisive as she leaves little doubt that epidemics are not simply biological events but the result of social and political decisions, such as when the scientific research into sleeping sickness in 1902 was rooted in "maintaining German imperial power" so that they could continue to extract natural resources from their African colonies. Bonhomme brings into sharp relief the ways in which plagues themselves are used to justify discrimination, segregation, and even violence against marginalized communities, such as the demonizing of gay men and Haitian immigrants during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States in the 1980s.
This is critical reading for readers interested in history, public health, and social justice. Bonhomme has created a thought-provoking analysis of pandemics as a lens through which readers might learn from the past to create a healthier and more equitable future. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash