Pox. The Life And Near Death Of A Very Social Disease

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Publisher: Sutton Publishing
Publisher Place: Uk
Publisher Year: 2006
Edition: First Edition

Description: 278 pages. Ex-Library. Book and Jacket are both in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: From almost the time when man first discovered thepleasures of sin, he has also experienced the torments ofthe Pox. This book uncovers the unwholesome history ofsyphilis and gonorrhoea, and their treatment, from theRenaissance to the antibiotic age. Gonorrhoea had beenknown since antiquity in Western Europe, but syphilisfirst made an impact in 1494 when the "Great Pox" reachedepidemic proportions. Mercury remained the most effectivecure until the twentieth century, but the treatment wasso unpleasant that quack cures abounded. Well-knownsyphilitics included Pope Alexander VI, Ivan theTerrible, Randolph Churchill, Al Capone and possiblyHitler. During the First and Second World Wars, VD wasalmost a greater cause of illness among soldiers thanwounds. Its prevalence made it a major public healthissue, yet many of the approaches to it were penal andreformatory in nature rather than medical. Kevin Browndraws on references from art and literature, stories offamous sufferers and medical documents to compile thisfascinating history of these diseases, which were seen asmuch as a social and moral problem as a medical one.

ISBN: 9780750940412