A History of the World in Six Plagues
Thursday, July 10, 9:40 a.m.
Online via Zoom
About the Event
Historian Dr. Edna Bonhomme explores the shocking truths and deep inequality in care that have festered around the globe during six great plagues: cholera, HIV/AIDS, the Spanish Flu, Sleeping Sickness, Ebola, and COVID-19. In her book, A History of the World in Six Plagues: How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to COVID-19, Bonhomme uses in-depth research and cultural analysis to explore the history and impact of each devastating disease. Author Uché Blackstock says, “Poignantly insightful and compelling, Bonhomme not only sheds light on past injustices but challenges us to confront our history and envision a more compassionate future.”
Sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
About the Author
Edna Bonhomme is a historian of science, culture writer, and journalist based in Berlin, Germany. She writes cultural criticism, literary essays, book reviews, and opinion pieces. Her writing explores how people navigate the difficult states of health—especially subjects that discuss contagious outbreaks, medical experiments, reproductive assistance, or illness narratives. Edna’s writing has appeared in Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, The Baffler, Berliner Zeitung, Esquire, Frieze, The Guardian, London Review of Books, The Nation, Washington Post, and others. Edna’s is the author of A History of the World in Six Plagues and the co-editor of After Sex , a literary anthology about reproductive justice.
This event is sponsored by:
