Antonio Carbone, Epidemic Cities

Abstract

After years of experiencing the realities of pandemic disease, much of the globe is apparently eager to forget and return to the ‘new normal’ as quickly as possible. Antonio Carbone’s slim volume is a bet against this trend. Published in the Global Urban History series in the new Elements format, its stated goal is to complement the current debates on COVID-19 with a historical perspective. For that purpose, he provides a selective view on the history of three infectious diseases in five different cities on four continents as a starting point for further study. Carbone is intent to not only tease out the drama, conflicts and political changes caused by the outbreaks, but also the connections between them by juxtaposing the effect of each disease on two cities. After a short introduction explaining his approach, the author uses the first chapter to establish a framework that holds together the disparate diseases and cities: Western medical thought. A quick tour of the most important developments from Hippocratic antiquity to bacteriology lays the foundation for the following chapters. The dominance of Western medical concepts in the age of colonialism and imperialism informed measures against epidemics across the globe and provides Carbone with a frame of reference to draw those connections between the cities.