The author’s stated purpose is to provide a balanced perspective on the history of disease. The Columbian Quincentenary of 1992—its preparations and aftermath— focused much attention on the spread of lethal pathogens from Europe to vulnerable native peoples, which has distorted certain truths about the trajectory of fatal diseases as an inexorable part of the human condition everywhere. In the first chapter the author is challenged to relate, in eight thousand words, what is known about Old World epidemiology before 1500 A.D. In contrast, the vague and tentative second chapter reflects the dearth of documentary evidence on disease in the pre-Hispanic New World. These two chapters set the stage for the discussion of the introduction and impact of Old World maladies in the Americas. The author then discusses Native American and European responses to epidemic disease, the impact of military conquest and colonialism, and questions of slavery, labor, and migration....
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