COLLEGE 122: Pox, Plague, and Pestilence: A Germ's Eye View of World History

Course Description

Microscopic organisms have toppled empires, reshaped borders, and rewritten the course of human civilization. This course tells world history through the lens of disease, revealing how epidemics from the Black Death to HIV/AIDS have transformed societies, economies, and politics. Weaving together grand historical narratives with cutting-edge genetics, we will explore why humanity's uniquely dangerous disease pool runs deep in our evolutionary past - and how technological progress has accelerated its growth. Discover how pathogens drove the rise of agriculture, urbanization, slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, creating enduring patterns of wealth, power, and inequality that persist today. The course also examines humanity's remarkable escape from infectious disease - a triumph enabling modern life while destabilizing environments and fostering new threats. From ancient plagues to COVID-19, see how germs have both accelerated human progress and constantly pushed back against it. Human health is globally interdependent and inseparably connected to planetary well-being. How did we get here as a species - and where are we headed next?