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Historical Bibliography Updated: July 14, 2026

Fevers, feuds, and diamonds: Ebola and the ravages of history.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020.

"Farmer first visited the Western African Ebola virus epidemic site in July 2014, and much of the book is devoted to his personal experiences. Reviewing the outbreak in 2020, he noted that there were almost no Ebola deaths in the U.S. or Europe. By Farmer's account, the West Africa Ebola death toll arose from the longstanding failure to invest in basic health infrastructure which resulted in a lack of proper medical care. Looking at the history of West Africa, Farmer blames the almost five centuries of European rule that resulted in the "rapacious extraction — of rubber latex, timber, minerals, gold, diamonds and human chattel" for the country's inability to provide adequate health care" (Wikipedia).

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#14154
Permanent Linkhttps://beta.historyofmedicine.com/id/16469
Author Bio LinkWikipedia ↗
External URLfevers-feuds-and-diamonds-ebola-and-the-ravages-of-history

Geographic Context

Publication place: New York