Synopses & Reviews
At the outset of the twentieth century, malaria was Italyand#8217;s major public health problem. It was the cause of low productivity, poverty, and economic backwardness, while it also stunted literacy, limited political participation, and undermined the army. In this book Frank Snowden recounts how Italy became the world center for the development of malariology as a medical discipline and launched the first national campaign to eradicate the disease.
Snowden traces the early advances, the setbacks of world wars and Fascist dictatorship, and the final victory against malaria after World War II. He shows how the medical and teaching professions helped educate people in their own self-defense and in the process expanded trade unionism, womenand#8217;s consciousness, and civil liberties. He also discusses the antimalarial effort under Mussoliniand#8217;s regime and reveals the shocking details of the German armyand#8217;s intentional release of malaria among Italian civiliansand#8212;the first and only known example of bioterror in twentieth-century Europe. Comprehensive and enlightening, this history offers important lessons for todayand#8217;s global malaria emergency.
Review
and#8220;Frank Snowdenand#8217;s study of the scourge and final eradication of malaria in Italy is a masterpiece. Rigorous, passionate, and highly original, it deserves a wide audience amongst historians and students.and#8221;and#8212;John Foot, reader in Modern Italian History, Department of Italian, University College London
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Review
"A highly original and authoritative reconstruction of Italy's historic and sometimes tragic battle with malaria; in its historical sweep, this book brilliantly conceptualizes disease within a political landscape that includes socialists, liberals, feminists, and fascists. A model for research on the history of medicine."and#8212;Mary Gibson, City University of New York
Review
"With this book, Snowden achieves two difficult goals. He demonstrates how important malaria was to the political and social history of Italy to the mid-twentieth century, an aspect of the countryand#8217;s course underappreciated by its historians. Perhaps more importantly, he has crafted a marvelously detailed case study in the control of malaria, that shows how closely intertwined are the environmental, medical, social and political features of a landscape that nurtures the disease. Whether describing the temporary Fascist victory over malaria in the Pontine Marshes or the deliberate creation of malarial epidemics by retreating Nazis, Snowdenand#8217;s lively account convinces the reader that as malaria goes, so goes Italy. This is a first rate, valuable book that belongs on the shelf of historian and malariologist alike."and#8212;Dr. Margaret Humphreys, Professor of History, Duke University
Review
"Frank Snowden's research on Italy's battle against malaria combines a mastery of the scientific literature with a profound understanding of the laws of motion of Italian society and politics."and#8212;John Dickie, author of
Cosa Nostra: A Historyandnbsp;of theandnbsp;Italian Mafia
About the Author
Frank M. Snowden is professor of history at Yale University.