Pathogenesis

How Germs Made History

By: Jonathan Kennedy

Narrated by: Jonathan Kennedy

Brought to you by Penguin.

Humans did not make history—we played host.

This humbling and revelatory book shows how infectious disease has shaped humanity at every stage, from the first success of Homo sapiens over the equally intelligent Neanderthals to the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam. How did an Indonesian volcano help cause the Black Death, setting Europe on the road to capitalism? How could 168 men extract the largest ransom in history from an opposing army of eighty thousand? And why did the Industrial Revolution lead to the birth of the modern welfare state?

The latest science reveals that infectious diseases are not just something that happens to us, but a fundamental part of who we are. Indeed, the only reason humans don't lay eggs is that a virus long ago inserted itself into our DNA, and there are as many bacteria in your body as there are human cells. We have been thinking about the survival of the fittest all wrong: evolution is not simply about human strength and intelligence, but about how we live and thrive in a world dominated by germs.

By exploring the startling intimacy of our relationship with infectious diseases, Dr Jonathan Kennedy shows how they have been responsible for some of the seismic revolutions of the past 50,000 years. A major reassessment of world history, Pathogenesis also reveals how the crisis of a pandemic can offer vital opportunities for change.

©2023 Jonathan Kennedy (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"This book challenges some of the greatest cliches about colonialism and leaves you wondering why you ever gave them the time of day. A revelation, and also that rarest thing, a science title that is entirely comprehensible and often a pleasure to read." (Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling author of Empireland)

"Thrilling and eye-opening. From neolithic diseases to Covid-19, Jonathan Kennedy explores the enormous role played by some of the tiniest life on Earth: the power of plagues in shaping world history." (Professor Lewis Dartnell, bestselling author of Origins and Being Human)

"From the fall of Rome to the Spanish conquest of the Americas to the industrial revolution, germs have played as much a role in history as guns, generals and 'great men'... Jonathan Kennedy restores the microbes of infectious disease to their rightful place in the story of human evolution and the rise and fall of civilisations. Science and history at its best." (Dr Mark Honigsbaum, author of The Pandemic Century)