Epidemics & Plagues (Kingfisher Knowledge)

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"Kingfisher Knowledge" is a groundbreaking series for readers hungry for information on today's hot topics. Lively, engaging text, packed with information, accompanies stunning photographs that enhance each chapter. Amazing, state-of-the-art digital artwork guides readers into the fascinating heart of the subject. This learning adventure does not stop there - information panels throughout lead the reader to further discovery. Each chapter offers website links, book lists, places to visit and career information. "Epidemics & Plagues" takes an in-depth look at epidemics and plagues past and present, finding out about the big killer diseases and what happens when they spread rapidly and affect large numbers of people. It conveys the sad yet gripping histories of the Black Death of 13th-century Europe, the Great Plague of London, the devastating smallpox epidemics of 18th-century America and the flu epidemic that followed the First World War. It peers under the microscope at the agents that cause smallpox, influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria, examines the science to find out why they spread so quickly and what might be done to stop them. It also looks at history and legend to get an idea of why people have always been so frightened by the threat of epidemics and plagues.

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Richard Walker has written many books for all age groups in the areas of natural history, human biology and science, including Microscopic Life in the Kingfisher Knowledge series, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books Junior Prize.He has a BSc and PhD in zoology, in which he studied parasitology, and he spent several years teaching biology and science in London schools before becoming a full-time writer. Richard won the 2002 Aventis Prize for Science Books Junior Prize. Denise Grady is a writer for the New York Times science news department. She has won many awards for her journalistic contributions to science and medicine.