Mosquitoes, Malaria & Man by Gordon Harrison

Mosquitoes, Malaria & Man:

A History of the Hostilities Since 1880

by Gordon Harrison

John Murray, 1978, [First Edition], b/w photographs, illustrations, hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0719537808

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, 

'The extraordinary story of the crusade against malaria, told here for the first time, begins in the high noon of the white man's empire, at the close of the nineteenth century.  It was the era of the great microbe hunters - Pasteur, Koch, Lister and others.  Their followers believed in the eradication of disease as generals believe in total victory: win or be defeated.  They disparaged the resistance of their enemy and overestimated the weapons of science.
Against a background of imperial rivalry and Victorian faith in the efficacy of technology to banish both disease and heathenism from the dark-skinned world, the crusade continued until the 1950s when sceptics of the eradication strategy gained the upper hand.  The book has particular relevance today when malaria is resurgent.