PEOPLE, ENVIRONMENT, DISEASE AND DEATH

A Medical Geography of Britain Throughout the Ages

G. Melvyn Howe

pp xx328 including 18 plates, 86 figures and 24 tables 1997 hardback
ISBN 0-7083-1373-6

'Mae hon yn gyfrol gyfoethog ac arloesol . . . mae’n ddiamau fod ynddi swmp o wybodaeth a dadansoddiad manwl o gyfraniad Cymry deallus i’r ymchwil am darddiad iaith a ieithoedd yn y cyd-destun Ewropeaidd . . . mae’r gyfrol hon yn un i’w darllen a’i thrysori'. (Cristion)

This accessible scientific study brings an environmental and geographical approach to bear on disease and death in Britain from medieval times to our own. Where we live, how we live, and what we are surrounded by, all have a bearing on the medical statistics.

‘The scope of this book is enormous . . .The book is heavily illustrated, both by quotations from original sources and by maps, graphs and figures, adding to the reader’s understanding . . . ’ (International Journal of Epidemiology)

‘ . . . attractive and valuable work . . . attractively presented; written in a relaxed yet authoritative style; and handsomely illustrated with a good range of clear maps, diagrams, Plates and supporting statistics. . . an important, if not essential, reference source for academics and students from a wide range of disciplines, for many years to come.’ Geographical Journal

‘ . . . for geographers and historians seeking a readable guide to the distribution and spread of disease in Great Britain since the time of the Celts and the Romans, this revised edition of Howe’s book will provide a good basis.’ (Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London)

While allowing for genetic factors and inherited disorders, the book concentrates on the influence of three kinds of environment. The physical environment includes climate and weather, soil and water quality, radon and radiation. The biological environment produces its own hazards - pathogens and vectors, pollens and allergies, industrial and city wastes. Lastly, the human environment itself affects health, through the standard of housing, occupational diseases and life-style factors such as drugs, alcohol, travel and sexual mores.

A series of geo-medical-historical vignettes from different periods is interwoven with contemporary accounts, diagrams, graphs and photographs, and the way in which certain afflictions such as plague, tuberculosis, coronary heart disease, cancer and stroke have been or continue to be more commonly suffered by inhabitants of particular regions or cities is comprehensively studied.

The book is liberally illustrated with maps. Those which deal with our own times are based on the very latest available statistical and distributional information concerning deaths in the UK.

'The strength and appeal of this book lie in its broad scope, providing in its central chapters a series of 'period pictures' extending from pre-Norman times to the last decade of the twentieth century.' (Geography)

' . . . an intriguing historical perspective of the geography of health.' (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine)

G. Melvyn Howe is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Strathclyde; Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Fellow and former President of the Institute of British Geographers and British Representative on the Medical Geography Commission of the International Geographical Union. He is the author of the foremost books in this area of study and has received the Gill Memorial Award of the Royal Geographical Society.