Pandemics. Quarantine. Vaccines. These concepts have been at the forefront of our minds for over three years now. Having lived through the height of the COVID pandemic, it would be easy for us to imagine we have just experienced something unique in human history.
In Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines and the Health of Nations, Simon Schama illustrates that this is about as far from the truth as possible. He examines the reactions to outbreaks of smallpox, cholera and plague in the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on some key individuals – people who are often left out of the grand narrative of scientific progress.
