Thomas F. (hardtack) - , reviewed on 9/2/2018 + 2700 more book reviews

As an entomologist who is also a history buff, I combined my interest in both to write and lecture on how insects affected history. As such, I wasn't as interested in the first part of the book, which covered non-arthropod vectored diseases, as I was in the second part, which did cover those diseases.

This is not to say non-arthropod vectored diseases aren't important. They are! In fact, my favorite book on diseases, which I highly recommend, is "The Great Influenza," about the "Spanish Flu" epidemic of 1918-1920.

Desowitz provided me with some new information I wish I had known when I was lecturing and writing on arthropod diseases. In many ways, "Who Gave Pinta to the Santa Maria" is a "popular history" of some of the diseases which changed history. What is more important is how Desowitz challenges us to recognize how future diseases might change history. If you enjoy this book, you should then read "Spillover," which covers in more detail how animal-borne diseases might shape our future.

The author made one minor(?) error which I found interesting. While discussing yellow fever and the Spanish-American War, he has Teddy Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" charging up Kettle Hill in Puerto Rico. Funny, as I, and millions of other Americans, always thought that happened in Cuba.

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