Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600
Frank Snowden's Yale lecture course traces how epidemic disease has shaped western society from the bubonic plague through HIV/AIDS, SARS, and swine flu. Lectures examine the rise of germ theory, the development of public health measures and tropical medicine, and the ethical dilemmas doctors faced during outbreaks. Snowden also reads plague as a literary genre, from Boccaccio to Camus, and looks at the mass hysteria and scapegoating that epidemics repeatedly triggered. Individual sessions compare diseases such as plague, smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, and polio to show how each left a distinct social and cultural imprint. Recorded on campus at Yale in Spring 2010 for Open Yale Courses, the full set of lecture videos and transcripts is freely available, with no assignments or certificate attached. The course gives a wide historical sweep for anyone wanting to understand how societies have responded to contagion long before the modern era.