
Humanity can’t go anywhere without dragging along an endless parade of cacophony. The sounds of the city; cars honking, engines racing, shouts, screams, sirens, music blaring, voices on the radio booming, accidents, helicopters, cackling, gunshots, commercials, sports broadcasts, sobbing—all of humankind relentlessly announcing itself in the grand parade. The countryside is better off, but is […]

Knowing the history of infectious disease epidemics and pandemics like plague, smallpox, cholera, etc. is important when it comes to understanding whatever new disease comes our way. In this video, I discuss how the plague thwarted Justinian’s efforts to make the Mediterranean a Roman lake again in the middle of the sixth century.