In Stephen Massimilla's latest book, The Plague Doctor in His Hull-Shaped Hat, self-recognition is found in the loss, beauty, and suffering that define our common humanity. This collection of poems maps overseas and underworld routes by which personal exploration opens onto universal territory. From Capri to Venice, from New England to the tropics, from Ithaca to the prismatic sea, the poems enact a struggle to salvage psychological, social, cultural and ecological landscapes.
Masks hide more than just flesh... A sadistic killer stalks the city of Green Valley Falls and with limited resources the police are getting nowhere. Fear grips the heart of the city as the unusual nature of the attacks are kept from the media. Laurie Hood, a young man living a mundane life loses a friend to the killer and begins investigating the case himself. He quickly has to adapt to his new life, as the killer widens his list of targets and continues his reign of terror. Can one man make a difference?
A nightmarish pulsating space adventure. A man wakes up on the couch. His couch? Is it the morning or the middle of the night? Was he drinking again? Has his wife left for work yet? Why can't he move? Why doesn't he know how he got there? And most importantly... How did he lose his memory? Someone has the answers. Donald Trump: Plague Doctor is a feverish Rubik's Cube of pulp goodness that will wake you up from cryogenic sleep, put you into a spaceship, and leave you wondering what planet you were just on. Tremendous.
The Black Death of the late Middle Ages is often described as the greatest natural disaster in the history of humankind. More than fifty million people, half of Europe’s population, died during the first outbreak alone from 1347 to 1353. Plague then returned fifteen more times through to the end of the medieval period in 1500, posing the greatest challenge to physicians ever recorded in the history of the medical profession. This engrossing book provides the only comprehensive history of the medical response to the Black Death over time. Leading historian John Aberth has translated many unknown plague treatises from nine different languages that vividly illustrate the human dimensions of the horrific scourge. He includes doctors’ remarkable personal anecdotes, showing how their battles to combat the disease (which often afflicted them personally) and the scale and scope of the plague led many to question ancient authorities. Dispelling many myths and misconceptions about medicine during the Middle Ages, Aberth shows that plague doctors formulated a unique and far-reaching response as they began to treat plague as a poison, a conception that had far-reaching implications, both in terms of medical treatment and social and cultural responses to the disease in society as a whole.
In 1992, Dr. Ross A. Slotten signed more death certificates in Chicago—and, by inference, the state of Illinois—than anyone else. As a family physician, he was trained to care for patients from birth to death, but when he completed his residency in 1984, he had no idea that many of his future patients would be cut down in the prime of their lives. Among those patients were friends, colleagues, and lovers, shunned by most of the medical community because they were gay and HIV positive. Slotten wasn’t an infectious disease specialist, but because of his unique position as both a gay man and a young physician, he became an unlikely pioneer, swept up in one of the worst epidemics in modern history. Plague Years is an unprecedented first-person account of that epidemic, spanning not just the city of Chicago but four continents as well. Slotten provides an intimate yet comprehensive view of the disease’s spread alongside heartfelt portraits of his patients and his own conflicted feelings as a medical professional, drawn from more than thirty years of personal notebooks. In telling the story of someone who was as much a potential patient as a doctor, Plague Years sheds light on the darkest hours in the history of the LGBT community in ways that no previous medical memoir has.
“We should leave. We definitely should leave. But... chatty ghosts!” The year is 1645, and Edinburgh is in the grip of the worst plague in its history. Nobody knows who will be the next to succumb – nobody except the Night Doctor, a masked figure that stalks the streets, seeking out those who will not live to see another day. But death is not the end. The Doctor, Bill and Nardole discover that the living are being haunted by the recently departed – by ghosts that do not know they are dead. And there are other creatures lurking in the shadows, slithering, creeping creatures filled with an insatiable hunger. The Doctor and his friends must face the terrifying secret of the Street of Sorrows – that something which has lain dormant for two hundred million years is due to destroy the entire city... An original novel featuring the Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole as played by Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas.
Discover how the application of novel multidisciplinary, integrative approaches and technologies are dramatically changing our understanding of the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and their treatments. Each article presents the state of the science, with a strong emphasis on new and emerging medical applications. The Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases is organized into five parts. The first part examines current threats such as AIDS, malaria, SARS, and influenza. The second part addresses the evolution of pathogens and the relationship between human genetic diversity and the spread of infectious diseases. The next two parts highlight the most promising uses of molecular identification, vector control, satellite detection, surveillance, modeling, and high-throughput technologies. The final part explores specialized topics of current concern, including bioterrorism, world market and infectious diseases, and antibiotics for public health. Each article is written by one or more leading experts in the field of infectious diseases. These experts place all the latest findings from various disciplines in context, helping readers understand what is currently known, what the next generation of breakthroughs is likely to be, and where more research is needed. Several features facilitate research and deepen readers' understanding of infectious diseases: Illustrations help readers understand the pathogenesis and diagnosis of infectious diseases Lists of Web resources serve as a gateway to important research centers, government agencies, and other sources of information from around the world Information boxes highlight basic principles and specialized terminology International contributions offer perspectives on how infectious diseases are viewed by different cultures A special chapter discusses the representation of infectious diseases in art With its multidisciplinary approach, this encyclopedia helps point researchers in new promising directions and helps health professionals better understand the nature and treatment of infectious diseases.
A pre-WW2 American humorist contracts TB and “writes about her seclusion in a way that is painfully, barkingly funny” (Lissa Evans, The Guardian). “Getting tuberculosis in the middle of your life is like starting downtown to do a lot of urgent errands and being hit by a bus. When you regain consciousness you remember nothing about the urgent errands. You can’t even remember where you were going.” Thus begins Betty MacDonald’s memoir of her year in a sanatorium just outside Seattle battling the “White Plague.” MacDonald uses her offbeat humor to make the most of her time in the TB sanatorium—making all of us laugh in the process. “Improbably funny. . . equally remarkable.” ―Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly “Can you imagine writing a whole book about being forbidden to do anything other than lie in bed? But Betty does, and she somehow makes it a riveting chronicle.” ―Lory Widmer Hess, Emerald City Book Review “An appetizing, well-seasoned feast. MacDonald’s sharp, witty observations as she spends almost a year in The Pines Clinic, outside of Seattle, are perfectly pitched . . . with a huge dollop of idiosyncratic humour . . . MacDonald is an impressive and engaging storyteller.” ―Jules Morgan, The Lancet
Being sick is horrible. But it used to be worse. Inside this book, you'll see evidence of the plagues of the past—rotting skin, dissolving lungs, and sinister swelling all over the body. Diseases like the Black Death wiped out whole towns and villages. Tuberculosis consumed young people like a bloodsucking vampire. And Smallpox left its victims scarred for life—if they survived. At the time, no one knew where these killer diseases came from or how to treat them. But eventually doctors discovered how these diseases and others were spread. Being sick isn't quite as sickening as it was in the past!
