Rats, Lice and History

This bountifully discursive romp through a pestilential history was a really enjoyable read. Ostensibly, a "biography of typhus", the disease is not directly tackled biographically until Chapter XII aftr side treks and apologies and then rushed through from the disease's 15th Century emergence verifiably in the 15th Century. It arose probably in the east and even possibly through battling on Cyprus. From there, it flared with the fires of war on to a final subsidence after playing a pivotal role in the Balkans in WWI. More entertainingly, the book starts with a discussion of biographies themselves in a whimsical yet incisive overview worth reading by literary critics considering modern biographies. Lice get their own chapter, verging on show more lousy praise, as do rats. The Crusades, affected by pestilence in general if not typhus, get an overview along with plagues of the Old Testament era. I especially liked the considering of Justinian's plague and the arrival of syphilis from the New World in the Columbian Exchange.

I think Zinsser was ahead of his time and if published anew now this would play well in the microhistory realm Mark Kurlansky, etc. I gave my copy to a student of mine to read and pass on. We are now a budding Zinsser Appreciation Society. show less

Zinsser's book, published in 1935, can be read as a modern adaptation of Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy. It provides the reader with a picaresque description of how typhus outbreaks have influenced human history. In the days before antibiotics, he issued a challenge against germs that is still relevant today: "Infectious disease is one of the few genuine adventures left in the world." The lance is rusting in the chimney corner and the dragons are all dead. The war against those ferocious little fellow creatures, which lurk in dark corners and stalk us in the bodies of rats, mice, and all kinds of domestic animals; which fly and crawl with the insects, and which fly and crawl with the birds, is about the only show more sporting event that has not been negatively impacted by the relentless domestication of a once free-living human species.

Even though this book was written almost a century ago, it hasn't become any less interesting or funny. Hans Zinsser has created an eccentric view of history, rambling about rats, typhus, the Roman Empire, lice, and everything. You can't read it in one sitting, because you'll have to keep taking breaks to calm down from the experience. I liked the book because because I learned so much - this book is a classic microbiology textbook among other things. My favorite foonote was associated with a word I'd never heard -- it said, "If the reader does not know the meaning of this word, that is unfortunate." That gives you an inkling of what is in store for you if you choose to read this book. show less

Published in 1944, Zinsser leads you through his avenues of interest (research) in hunt of an understanding of Typhus - he christens the endeavor a biography. Splendid. This is the style of book I want to read (well, minus the side comments on the worth of women and other races/ethnicities).

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Chapter X: More about the louse: the need for this chapter will be apparent to those who have entered into the spirit of this biography

Typhus is not dead. It will live on for centuries, and it will continue to break into the open whenever human stupidity and brutality give it a chance.

I must note this as one of my favorite books ever, not because of its content (though I'm a sucker for plagues), but because of Zinsser's voice and narrative style. This was the first book I read where I noticed the author's effort to communicate his passion, and felt addressed across the decades. I've begun more than one deep friendship based only on our relationship to this book, and to my mind, that is the highest recommendation I can make.

I guarantee you will not find another parasitology book that mentions the poetry of T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, and lice in the same chapter. A very fun read.

This was the first book I read, when I was in high school, but not required for a class, about a narrow but fascinating part of history. From then on history to me has meant people of all kinds, though not so much about generals and kings.
History is interesting when it involves science and philosophy, literature and art, common people and their lives.

Profound, witty, far-ranging, this book utterly defies literary classification, except that it is a contemporary classic. Although its foundation is a “biography” of typhus fever, originally published in 1935, Dr. Zinsser, broadens this theme to include history, customs, places, religions, art and science in a rich style that shows both is own scholarship and his rare human wisdom.