Mosquito Soldiers

Of the 620,000 soldiers who perished during the American Civil War, the overwhelming majority died not from gunshot wounds or saber cuts, but from disease. And of the various maladies that plagued both armies, few were more pervasive than malaria--a mosquito-borne illness that afflicted over 1.1 million soldiers serving in the Union army alone. Yellow fever, another disease transmitted by mosquitos, struck fear into the hearts of military planners who knew that "yellow jack" could wipe out an entire army in a matter of weeks. In this ground-breaking medical history, Andrew McIlwaine Bell explores the impact of these two terrifying mosquito-borne maladies on the major political and military events of the 1860s, revealing how deadly microorganisms carried by a tiny insect helped shape the course of the Civil War. Soldiers on both sides frequently complained about the annoying pests that fed on their blood, buzzed in their ears, invaded their tents, and generally contributed to the misery of army life. Little did they suspect that the South's large mosquito population operated as a sort of mercenary force, a third army, one that could work for or against either side depending on the circumstances. Malaria and yellow fever not only sickened thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers but also affected the timing and success of certain key military operations. Some commanders took seriously the threat posed by the southern disease environment and planned accordingly; others reacted only after large numbers of their men had already fallen ill. African American soldiers were ordered into areas deemed unhealthy for whites, and Confederate quartermasters watched helplessly as yellow fever plagued important port cities, disrupting critical supply chains and creating public panics. Bell also chronicles the effects of disease on the civilian population, describing how shortages of malarial medicine helped erode traditional gender roles by turning genteel southern women into smugglers. Southern urbanites learned the value of sanitation during the Union occupation only to endure the horror of new yellow fever outbreaks once it ended, and federal soldiers reintroduced malaria into non-immune northern areas after the war. Throughout his lively narrative, Bell reinterprets familiar Civil War battles and events from an epidemiological standpoint, providing a fascinating medical perspective on the war. By focusing on two specific diseases rather than a broad array of Civil War medical topics, Bell offers a clear understanding of how environmental factors serve as agents of change in history. Indeed, with Mosquito Soldiers, he proves that the course of the Civil War would have been far different had mosquito-borne illness not been part of the South's landscape in the 1860s.

In Six-Legged Soldiers, Jeffrey A. Lockwood paints a brilliant portrait of the many weirdly creative, truly frightening, and ultimately powerful ways in which insects have been used as weapons of war, terror, and torture. He concludes with a critical analysis of today's defenses--and homeland security's dangerous shortcomings--with respect to entomological attacks. Beginning in prehistoric times and building toward a near and disturbing future, the reader is taken on a journey of innovation and depravity. Lockwood, an award-winning science writer, begins with the use of "bee bombs" in the ancient world and explores the role of insect-borne disease in changing the course of major battles, from Napoleon's military campaigns to the trenches of World War I. He explores the horrific programs of insect weaponization during World War II: airplanes designed to drop plague-infested fleas, facilities rearing tens of millions of crop-devouring beetles, and prison camps where doctors tested disease-carrying lice on inmates. The Cold War saw secret government operations involving the mass release of specially developed strains of mosquitoes on an unsuspecting American public--along with the alleged use of disease-carrying and crop-eating pests against North Korea and Cuba. Lockwood reveals how easy it would be to use insects in warfare and terrorism today, pointing to how domestic eco-terrorists in 1989 extorted government officials and wreaked economic and political havoc by threatening to release the notorious Medfly into California's crops. A remarkable story of human ingenuity--and brutality--Six-Legged Soldiers is the first comprehensive look at the use of insects as weapons of war, from ancient times to the present day.

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution? The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito. Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. As the mosquito transformed the landscapes of civilization, humans were unwittingly required to respond to its piercing impact and universal projection of power. The mosquito has determined the fates of empires and nations, razed and crippled economies, and decided the outcome of pivotal wars, killing nearly half of humanity along the way. She (only females bite) has dispatched an estimated 52 billion people from a total of 108 billion throughout our relatively brief existence. As the greatest purveyor of extermination we have ever known, she has played a greater role in shaping our human story than any other living thing with which we share our global village. Imagine for a moment a world without deadly mosquitoes, or any mosquitoes, for that matter? Our history and the world we know, or think we know, would be completely unrecognizable. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito’s reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.

"This is a study of six beach resort communities on the U.S. South's Atlantic and Gulf coasts: Galveston, Biloxi, Panama City, St. Augustine, Myrtle Beach, and Virginia Beach. As these cities became leisure destinations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Anthony Stanonis argues, they were forced to balance the competing demands of modernizing consumer culture and Southern traditionalism. They also participated in an especially delicate dance regarding race--one involving everything from cultural anxieties around tanning to a practical desire to tamp down the sort of racial conflict that might discourage tourism. Stanonis suggests that these negotiations were not always successful. Residents of the beach towns who did not profit from tourism and resented catering to outsiders' values, for example, sometimes struck back through acts of violence. Stanonis traces the rise of the infrastructure of tourism, the tensions of preserving the environment, and the development of a profitable industry in a clear and objective fashion. More importantly, he explores the complexities of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and the tensions between a resort's illegal underground and its 'family entertainment.' The text contains a breadth of archival sources--including the author's own personal collection. The sources blend the perspectives of boosters and developers with those of residents and tourists. Stanonis skillfully weaves the stories of actual people throughout the historical narrative he constructs, which makes the manuscript both more enjoyable and more relevant"--

You've just stepped into a world populated by military ants who defend their hill and queen from unending menace. Here, ladybugs operate a massive intelligence network, spiders dabble in sorcery, potato bugs wield the martial arts and mystical practices that defy natural laws; a wasp empire forces its tyrannical grip upon those in its shadow; centipede overlords rule from underground cities where gladiator pits set insect against insect; garter snakes of incredible wisdom hide in its far reaches, primeval lizards prowl its lost wilds, ancient artifacts lie hidden in its distant ruins, and cybernetic anomalies hard-wire innovative technologies into their carapaces, boosting their natural abilities. Fleas roam the countryside, picking through the scraps of the unending war and forging mechanical oddities. It has mosquito mercenaries and a fallen fly kingdom. It has a trashcan city, a desolate sandbox, and a deadly fire pit. It has a deep well with hidden secrets. It's a crazy place.

Bug zappers were invented for one purpose: to kill mosquitoes, the bane of many summer evenings, camping trips, and exotic vacations. These blood-sucking insects do more than leave us with itchy bites, though. The diseases they carry and inject, such as yellow fever, dengue fever, and the West Nile virus, make them responsible for more human deaths than any other animal. The most deadly of these, malaria, has been mostly eradicated from the northern hemisphere, but it continues to pose a mortal threat in developing countries. It kills nearly 700,000 of the 350 million that succumb to the infection each year, and the majority of the deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on scientific fact, historical evidence, and literary evocation, Mosquito provides a colorful portrait of this tiny insect and the notorious diseases it carries. Richard Jones explores the mosquito’s sinister reputation, tracing its transformation from trivial gnat into a serious disease-carrying menace. While Jones recounts the history of mosquitoes’ relationship with humans, he also offers a persuasive warning against the contemporary complacency surrounding malaria and other diseases in Western society. Mosquito is a compelling look at tropical medicine, diseases, and their connection to one of our smallest adversaries.

Malaria is one of the most important OC emergingOCO or OC resurgentOCO infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organization, this mosquito-borne infection is a leading cause of suffering, death, poverty, and underdevelopment in the world today. Every year 500 million people become severely ill from malaria and more than a million people die, the great majority of them women and children living in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, it was estimated, a child would die of the disease every thirty seconds, making malaria OCo together with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis OCo a global public health emergency. This is in stark contrast to the heady visions of the 1950s predicting complete global eradication of the ancient scourge. What went wrong?. This question warrants a closer look at not just the disease itself, but its long history and the multitude of strategies to combat its spread. This book collects the many important milestones in malaria control and treatment in one convenient volume. Importantly, it also traces the history of the disease from the 1920s to the present, and over several continents. It is the first multidisciplinary volume of its kind combining historical and scientific information that addresses the global challenge of malaria control. Malaria remains as resurgent as ever and The Global Challenge of Malaria: Past Lessons and Future Prospects will examine this challenge OCo and the range of strategies and tools to confront it OCo from an interdisciplinary and transnational perspective. Contents: Lessons of History: Malaria in America (Margaret Humphreys); Technological Solutions: The Rockefeller Insecticidal Approach to Malaria Control, 1920OCo1950 (Darwin H Stapleton); Malaria Control and Eradication Projects in Tropical Africa, 1945OCo1965 (James L A Webb, Jr); The Use and Misuse of History: Lessons from Sardinia (Frank M Snowden); Popular Education and Participation in Malaria Control: A Historical Overview (Socrates Litsios); Scientific, Medical, and Public Health Perspectives: The Contribution of the Gambia to Malaria Research (Brian Greenwood); InsecticideOCoTreated Bednets and Malaria Control: Strategies, Implementation, and Outcome (Harry V Flaster, Emily Mosites, and Brian G Blackburn); The Scientific and Medical Challenge of Malaria (Tiffany Sun and Richard Bucala). Readership: Historians of medicine; research scientists; clinicians, especially in the specialties of tropical medicine and infectious diseases; public health officials; environmentalists; and students in public health and history of medicine programs; general readers interested in contemporary issues of global health."