Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

Written by Jonathan Kennedy

Narrated by Jonathan Kennedy

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “gripping” (The Washington Post) account of how the major transformations in history—from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth of capitalism—have been shaped not by humans but by germs

“Superbly written . . . Kennedy seamlessly weaves together scientific and historical research, and his confident authorial voice is sure to please readers of Yuval Noah Harari or Rutger Bregman.”—The Times (U.K.)

According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.

Drawing on the latest research in fields ranging from genetics and anthropology to archaeology and economics, Pathogenesis takes us through sixty thousand years of history, exploring eight major outbreaks of infectious disease that have made the modern world. Bacteria and viruses were protagonists in the demise of the Neanderthals, the growth of Islam, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the devastation wrought by European colonialism, and the evolution of the United States from an imperial backwater to a global superpower. Even Christianity rose to prominence in the wake of a series of deadly pandemics that swept through the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries: Caring for the sick turned what was a tiny sect into one of the world’s major religions.

By placing disease at the center of his wide-ranging history of humankind, Kennedy challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions about our collective past—and urges us to view this moment as another disease-driven inflection point that will change the course of history. Provocative and brimming with insight, Pathogenesis transforms our understanding of the human story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9780593668047

Reviews for Pathogenesis

[kalliegrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this is an excellent and concise look at the path of disease in shaping human history. We really are beholden to microbes.

[marshakt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first 5 chapters were great - interesting assessment of our ancient history
Gets more preachy and less interesting as he approaches the modern era.

[maureenroy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Starting in extreme antiquity (in Earth's hunter-gatherer era for the earliest humans), the author makes a strong case for revising the explanations for many key points in human history based on the role of bacteria and viruses in those transitions. My view of world history will never be the same. This book is enlivened by genetic data previously only published in recent but paywalled academic journals accessible to few readers. The most likely causes of ancient pandemics are also explored.

[neurodrew · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Plagues and disease shaped many events in prehistory and history.
To me, the most interesting part of this broad survey was the information about DNA variation and diseases in Neaderthals, Homo Sapiens and Denisovan, and the speculation that Homo Sapiens brought disease that caused the Neaderthals to die out, although about 2% of the modern human genome is shared with Neanderthals. Citing the recent book by Graeber and Wengrow on the Neolithic revolution, the auther also discusses the human immunity to smallpox and other diseases of herd animals. These topics were new, but the rest of the story of disease in history was discussed in McNeil's "Plagues and Peoples" from 1976. Bacteria and viruses were protagonists in the Peloponesian War, the growth of Islam, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the counquest of Mexico and the Incas, the rise of the trans-Atlantic trade in African slaves, and in European exploitation of Africa. Christianity rose to prominence in the wake of a series of deadly pandemics that swept through the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries. The fact that Christians cared for the sick attracted converts.
The author discusses mainly secondary sources in the text, but there are primary references in the bibliography. He has a UK and European moral disdain for the role of the US in history, and in the later parts of the book seems more concerned with supporting progressive political notions of diversity and third world moral superiority than in the medical history of infectious diseases.

[maxwellt-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Socialist/progressive/communist author. Book is more politics than plagues.