Rats, Lice and History

When Rats, Lice and History appeared in 1935, Hans Zinsser was a highly regarded Harvard biologist who had never written about historical events. Although he had published under a pseudonym, virtually all of his previous writings had dealt with infections and immunity and had appeared either in medical and scientific journals or in book format. Today he is best remembered as the author of Rats, Lice and History, which gone through multiple editions and remains a masterpiece of science writing for a general readership.

Hans Zinsser (1878-1940) was an instructor of bacteriology at Columbia University

Introduction to the Transaction Edition	p. ix
Preface	p. xxix
In the nature of an explanation and an apology	p. 3
Being a discussion of the relationship between science and art	p. 15
Leading up to the definition of bacteria and other parasites, and digressing briefly into the question of the origin of life	p. 34
On parasitism in general, and on the necessity of considering the changing nature of infectious diseases in the historical study of epidemics	p. 57
Being a continuation of Chapter IV, but dealing more particularly with so-called new diseases and with some that have disappeared	p. 77
Diseases of the ancient world: a consideration of the epidemic diseases which afflicted the ancient world	p. 105
A continuation of the consideration of diseases of the ancients, with particular attention to epidemics and the fall of Rome	p. 128
On the influence of epidemic diseases on political and military history, and on the relative unimportance of generals	p. 150
On the louse: we are now ready to consider the environment which has helped to form the character of our subject	p. 166
More about the louse: the need for this chapter will be apparent to those who have entered into the spirit of this biography	p. 179
Much about rats - a little about mice	p. 189
We are at last arriving at the point at which we can approach the subject of this biography directly	p. 212
In which we consider the birth, childhood, and adolescence of typhus	p. 229
In which we follow the earliest epidemic exploits of our disease	p. 240
Young manhood: the period of early vigor and wild oats	p. 265
Appraisal of a contemporary and prospects of future education and discipline	p. 282
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Rats, Lice and History

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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