Epidemics in the Modern World

by Joann P. Krieg

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805788522
• ISBN13: 9780805788525
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Twayne Publishers
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great

Epidemics and their effects on human populations have provided a literary theme extending from the Bible to Albert Camus's "The Plague", yet this theme is significantly absent from the literature of the United States. Why? In this groundbreaking study, Joann P. Krieg uncovers the hidden concerns in the American psyche concerning epidemic diseases as she traces evidence of specific fears peculiar to the development of the national self-consciousness, especially with regard to nature in the New World. Joann P. Krieg is associate professor of English at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. "Joann Krieg's stuidy of the image of epidemics in the modern world presents a sophisticated reading of the litery and cultural context of mass disease from the eighteenth century to the age of AIDS. Her book is a major addition to the literature on the social construction of disease. It gives us insight into the means by which we-as a culture-give meaning to natural phenomena such as disease and by which we use our own construction of the idea of disease to give meaning to other aspects of our world. A clearly written, intelligent book." "Professor Krieg has opened up for consideration a fascinating and generally unexplored subject in American Studies."