Dread cover art

Dread

How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Dread

By: Phillip Alcabes
Narrated by: Simon Prebble
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The average individual is far more likely to die in a car accident than from a communicable disease...yet we are still much more fearful of an epidemic. Even at our most level-headed, the thought of an epidemic can inspire terror. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question - or the actual risks of contagion - but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood.

Alcabes examines epidemics through history to show how they reflect the particular social and cultural anxieties of their times. From Typhoid Mary to bioterrorism, as new outbreaks are unleashed or imagined, new fears surface, new enemies are born, and new behaviors emerge. Dread dissects the fascinating story of the imagined epidemic: the one that we think is happening, or might happen; the one that disguises moral judgments and political agendas; the one that ultimately expresses our deepest fears.

©2009 Philip Alcabes (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Contagious Diseases History & Commentary World
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Pandemics cover art
A Terrible Thing to Waste cover art
The Price of Panic cover art
Phantom Plague cover art
Faucian Bargain cover art
In the Kingdom of the Sick cover art
Reality Check cover art
Diabetes cover art
The Great Un-Reset cover art
The Spanish Flu cover art
Dissolving Illusions cover art
The Plague Cycle cover art
Divided cover art
A Letter to Liberals cover art
Extra Life cover art
Between Hope and Fear cover art

Critic reviews

"Showing how even epidemics hinge on societal attitudes and expectations, Alcabes presents an engrossing, revealing account of the relationship between progress and plague." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Dread

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.