A modern epidemic

Abstract

Allergy: The History of a Modern Malady by Mark Jackson Reaktion Books, London, UK 288 pp, $40/£25 ISBN 1861892713 ![][1] The great epidemics of the past resulted from infection: influenza, yellow fever and the plague. Today, these have largely been replaced by new epidemics of chronic disease—such as cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes—the etiologies of which are as much social and economic as they are biological. In Allergy: The History of a Modern Malady , Mark Jackson traces one such epidemic from its roots in nineteenth‐century immunology to its current status as one of the most pervasive maladies afflicting mankind. In doing so, he has written a remarkably concise, accessible, and yet intellectual account of the essential role that history has in understanding the socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental origins of allergy and other modern diseases. Throughout the book, Jackson provides an historical overview of the term ‘allergy’, describing how its meaning has changed over time and how, at any one moment, its perception has varied between scientists, clinicians and the lay public. In 1905, Clemens von Pirquet, an Austrian … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif