Russia in the Time of Cholera

Reviews / Votes

'John Davis's research on cholera in Russia is a groundbreaking synthesis of political and social history with environmental history and the history of science. By considering Russian responses to the disease in the context of nineteenth century scientific debates, Davis challenges the received wisdom both about the nature of the scientific "bacteriological revolution" and about the "backwardness" of Russian science. Davis casts Russia's environment as a powerful actor in the story of the diffusion of cholera and explores the particular difficulty of containing cholera in Russia because of its geographical and geo-epidemiological characteristics. Davis also explores the profound continuities in the battle with cholera across the revolutionary divide, showing how Soviet medicine built on Tsarist policies to conquer the disease.' - Karen Petrone, Professor of History, University of Kentucky, 'John Davis's pioneering volume makes a distinct contribution to scholarship. It treats intelligently an important and long-lasting episode in imperial Russian and Soviet history. It adds to medical and environmental history as essential components of cultural history by arguing that the study of the cholera in Russia paralleled the modernization of the country. The book demonstrates that the history of epidemiology can tell us much about the intersection of sociopolitical unrest and economic dislocation.' - Lucien Frary, Professor of History, Rider University, 'Russia in the Time of Cholera makes important contributions to both Russian history and the history of medicine. Arguing that Russian physicians were creative and pragmatic in fighting cholera epidemics, John Davis shows that they had reasons to eschew the contagionist measures favoured by their German counterparts in the late nineteenth century. Given the public health challenges they faced in the vast and underdeveloped Russian empire, physicians there relied instead on environmental and social approaches to disease. Davis also demonstrates striking continuities with the Soviet period, when Russian specialists continued to develop social medicine and proved largely successful in eradicating cholera. Well researched and carefully argued, Davis's book provides a rich, multi-dimensional analysis of health and society in imperial and Soviet Russia.' - David L. Hoffmann, Distinguished Professor of History, The Ohio State University