Contemporary Studies On The History Of Plagues In The West

Plague has an important influence on the development of human history,and the history of plague is the history of the battle between plagues and human society.In 1976,William H.McNeill’s masterpiece "Plagues and Peoples" was published.This book took plague as the main object of investigation and placed plagues at the center of historical research,which injected a new perspective for the academic circle to look at and study the development process of human history.Therefore,the progress in the studies on plague history in western countries in the past 40 years from 1976 to now deserves attention.From 1976 to the present,the study of the history of plagues in the West has mainly experienced three stages of development,namely,the first stage,from 1976 to the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century,inspired by "Plagues and Peoples",the studies on the history of plague in the West ushered in a small climax;In the second stage,from the early 21st century to 2019,before the outbreak of COVID-19,studies on the history of plague in the West were relatively quiet on the whole,and many works on the history of plague were published in China.In the third stage,since the outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019,studies on the history of plague in the West have reached a climax again,influenced by the actual social background.In terms of research content,the studies on plague history in the West includes four major elements:the source of infection,the way of transmission,the main symptoms and human response.In addition,the studies on plague history in the West focuse on the mutual influence between the country,social forces,masses and other subjects respectively.In terms of methods and perspectives,for more than 40 years,the studies on plague history in the West has adopted the perspective of global history and interdisciplinary research methods,making the study more scientific and comprehensive.At the same time,the main historical sources of plague history research are medical records,archival records,experimental records and other detailed historical materials,coupled with the influence of the new cultural history,so the western plague history research from 1 9 76 to now has an obvious feature of strong narrative.In terms of research characteristics,the studies on plague history in the West has gradually realized the combination of internal and external history.That is to say,historians have payed more and more attention to the development of knowledge theories such as medicine and epidemiology,and medical scientists and biologists also pay more and more attention to the interaction between plague and society.Making full use of comparative studies,including the comparison between different plagues,the spread of the same plague under different conditions,and the comparison between the plague and the Internet,financial crisis and other social activities that are also infectious;Focusing on predicting future outbreaks,and proposing feasible prevention and solution measures for existing problems.However,there are shortcomings in the researches on plague history in the West.For example,due to insufficient historical data and language barriers,the epidemic in Asia has received less attention.In the attention paid to the epidemic situation in Asia,the epidemic situation in modern China,especially the plague,attracted the most attention.However,most Chinese scholars participated in this part of research.In addition,when studying diseases as long ago as the Middle Ages,due to the shortage or error of historical materials,the research is not detailed enough.Summarizing and sorting out the progress in the study of plague history in the West from 1976 to the present is conducive to grasping the academic development,promoting the historical research that breaks the disciplinary barrier,and is of great significance in summarizing historical experience and providing references for current and future epidemic prevention and response.