Book review: New pandemics, old politics: two hundred years of war on disease and its alternatives by Alex de Waal

Farrimond, Hannah (2021) Book review: New pandemics, old politics: two hundred years of war on disease and its alternatives by Alex de Waal. Impact of Social Sciences Blog (12 Jun 2021). Blog Entry.

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Abstract

In New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives, Alex de Waal offers a new political history of epidemics, identifying and critiquing a repeated mobilisation of the ‘war metaphor’ of pandemic disease to show our persistent (mis-)framing of biological illness. The book is an extremely comprehensive and fascinating history of previous epidemics, their metaphors and manifestations, and a highly thought-provoking read in our current times, writes Hannah Farrimond. New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives. Alex de Waal. Polity. 2021.

Item Type:	Online resource (Blog Entry)
Official URL:	https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author
Divisions:	LSE
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	24 Aug 2021 13:36
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2025 13:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/111156

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