Mosquito Empires

'For most of the last five centuries, the Atlantic empires - European and North American - wrested, fought wars, and killed thousands of citizens and slaves for possession of the wealth swaying in the fields of the Caribbean islands and coastlines. The dominant factors in the long conflict, no matter what the protagonists claimed, were not political or religious or even economic but septic, that is, the microbes of yellow fever and malaria. J. R. McNeill's book is by far the clearest, best informed, and scientifically accurate of the accounts available on this sugary conflict.' Alfred W. Crosby, University of Texas, Austin
'J. R. McNeill's new book does more than exhibit his usual gifts - breadth of range, mastery of material, depth of insight, freedom of thought, clarity of expression. It has changed the way I think about empires of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and will challenge many readers' assumptions about the limits of human agency in shaping great events.' Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame
'In this authoritative and engaging book, J. R. McNeill argues convincingly that disease played a pivotal role in many of the momentous events of Caribbean history. He shows how the region's disease ecology changed following the advent of European colonization and how this served and then subverted the interests of the Caribbean's oldest colonial powers. Mosquito Empires is indispensable to any student of Caribbean history or the history of disease.' Mark Harrison, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford
'Who would have guessed that the mosquito played such a vital role, shaping the fate of empires and revolutions, in such a vitally important part of the world? This provocative book is an eye-opener, written with great verve and wit.' Philip Morgan, Johns Hopkins University
'Drawing on an enormous documentary source base, culled from many archives and texts in several languages, and ranging effortlessly across military history and medical science, J. R. McNeill's book is a major achievement. Henceforth, histories of empire, warfare, and international relations that neglect the environmental context of the events they recount will be seriously deficient.' Gabriel Paquette, Times Literary Supplement
'J. R. McNeil has written a book full of revelations that left me astounded and eager to assign it to my students. Mosquito Empires is beautifully paced, well-researched, convincing, and important. It also left me more than a little envious: I wish I had written this book.' Environment and History
'… this book offers a scholarly but well-written narrative and analysis of a crucial theme in Latin American and Caribbean history.' Jonathan D. Ablard, H-LatAm