Try free for 30 days

  • Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

  • By: David P. Clark
  • Narrated by: Summer McStravick
  • Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today cover art

Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

By: David P. Clark
Narrated by: Summer McStravick
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

The stunning, hidden interconnections between microbes and humanity.

AD 452: Attila the Hun stands ready to sack Rome. No one can stop him - but he walks away. A miracle? No... dysentery. Microbes saved the Roman Empire. Nearly a millennium later, the microbes of the Black Death ended the Middle Ages, making possible the Renaissance, Western democracy, and the scientific revolution. Soon after, microbes ravaged the Americas, paving the way for their European conquest.

Again and again, microbes have shaped our health, our genetics, our history, our culture, our politics, even our religion and ethics. This book reveals much that scientists and cultural historians have learned about the pervasive interconnections between infectious microbes and humans. It also considers what our ongoing fundamental relationship with infectious microbes might mean for the future of the human species.

©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as FT Press (P)2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as FT Press

Critic Reviews

"With wit and humor, the author turns death, an ever-heavy topic, into an engrossing exploration of the course of mankind." ( Publishers Weekly)

More from the same

What listeners say about Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.