Human Condition : An Ecological and Historical View by William Hardy McNeill ...

Princeton University Press

The Human ConditionAn Ecological and Historical View\nAuthor(s): William Hardy McNeill\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Princeton University Press, United States\nImprint: Princeton University Press\nISBN-13: 9780691655673, 978-0691655673\nSynopsis\nA distinguished scholar and the well-known author of The Rise of the West and Plagues and Peoples, William McNeill has won widespread recgonition for his ideas on the role of disease in history. In this elegantly and incisively written work, originally delivered as the Bland-Lee Lactures at Clark University, he provides a provocative interpretation in world history using the concept of parasitism. By comparing the biological organisms that compete with human beings for food or feed directly upon them (\""microparasites\"") with those people or groups who seize goods or compel services from other human beings (\""macroparasites\""), Professor McNeill shows how changes in the patterns of parasitism have affected human populations in different reg.