Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus

By Monica Murphy and Bill Wasik

Book Overview

A maddened creature, frothing at the mouth, lunges at an innocent victim and, with a bite, transforms its prey into another raving monster. It s a scenario that underlies our darkest tales of supernatural horror, but its power derives from a very real virus, a deadly scourge known to mankind from our earliest days. In this fascinating exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years in the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies. The most fatal virus known to science, rabies kills nearly 100 percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. A disease that spreads avidly from animals to humans, rabies has served throughout history as a symbol of savage madness, of inhuman possession. And today, its history can help shed light on the wave of emerging diseases, from AIDS to SARS to avian flu, that we now know to originate in animal populations. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, "Rabid "is a fresh, fascinating, and often wildly entertaining look at one of mankind s oldest and most fearsome foes."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670023736
• ISBN13: 9780670023738
• Release Date: July 2012
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wild Ride

I know what you're thinking, "How could you possibly write a 300 page work about a disease that's largely been eradicated in the modern world? Even if you could, wouldn't it be about as interesting as a dissertation on the composition of sand?" Admittedly, I bought this book because of the Fun Run episode of The Office, however, I was hooked! Who knew that rabies was so fascinating? The first few chapters were a bit arduous for me, but after surpassing that initial hurdle, I was enthralled. I found myself staying up way too late and babbling excitedly to my bewildered coworkers the next day, "Dude, I have got to tell you about Louis Pasteur." Highly recommend.