What Randall M. Packard does masterfully in his book on malaria is to integrate the biological complexity of the disease into its historical, social and economic context, even if he stops short of drawing all the obvious conclusions from the data he so ably presents.
G. Dunkel Workers World 2008 Useful in collections that support tropical medicine, public health, and the history of medicine. Choice 2008 A fine book... This short book carries through its thoughtful approach with admirable power and consistency.
Bill Bynum Lancet 2008 This is an excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience.
Brian Greenwood Nature Medicine 2008 This is an interesting read-a short, well-written, and exceptionally well-documented history and commentary on the possible control-and, hopefully, eradication-of one of the world's major diseases.
Markley H. Boyer, MD, DPhil, MPH JAMA 2008 This is a remarkable book that will be of great interest to any historian working on the history of disease and to those historians who deal with the difficult question of how to write sound and clear general histories.
Marcos Cueto Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2008 Packard's is a terrific book that will guide the next generation of medical and environmental historians as global challenges to health persist and expand in the wake of unintended environmental change.
James C. McCann International Journal of African Historical Studies 2008 The Making of a Tropical Disease is a vigorously argued and accessibly narrated ecological history of malaria, a contribution as much to social medicine and studies in the political economy of disease as to medical history.
Warwick Anderson Isis 2009 What gives a special energy to this volume is his conviction that the history of malaria is embedded in the history of development and that the lessons of this history must be applied to contemporary development policies.
Marcia Wright Journal of Global History 2009 Packard's lightness of touch allows his book to be both enjoyable and compelling, despite the frustration and heartbreak in his story.
Anne Hardy Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2009 An excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience. It should be required reading for all those contemplating a second malaria eradication campaign.
Brian Greenwood Nature Medicine