Balancing current and historical issues, this volume of essays covers the most significant worldwide epidemics from the Black Death to AIDS. * Each of the 50 essays includes a bibliography for further reading on each subject and is cross-referenced to help the reader put the material into context * Glossary defines terms such as pandemic, germ theory, and virgin soil epidemic * Visuals such as an illustration of a 17th-century costume worn to ward off the plague and a photo of a panicked father carrying a polio-stricken daughter dramatize the effect of epidemics * Maps illustrate the spread of major pandemics, such as influenza in 1918 * Sidebars feature source documents, such as an eyewitness account of the death of composer Frederic Chopin or clergyman Cotton Mather's description of smallpox inoculation in 1721