On our tiniest foes

![][1] Viruses, Plagues and History by Michael B A Oldstone Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK 211 pages, US$ 25.00 019 511 7239![][2] The Evolution of HIVEdited by Keith A Crandall Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 520 pages, US$ 34.95 080 186 1519Looking at mankind's history, one cannot miss the fact that among all natural and man‐made disasters, microbes and viruses have had the biggest impact on man's fate. This is the explicit theme of Viruses, Plagues and History and the implicit topic of The Evolution of HIV . However, one cannot imagine two more widely differing books on this topic: the first one is written in a journalistic style to appeal to the lay‐reader, whilst the second book clearly addresses specialists in HIV virology. But they also have more in common than one would think at first sight because both books place the socio‐economic aspect of diseases in the forefront. Certainly, viruses and civilisation have strongly influenced each other and continue to do so despite all efforts of modern medicine. Consequently, the contention of Viruses, Plagues and History is that human diseases shaped much of human history. And here is already its first drawback: Michael Oldstone considers only viral diseases, and, as such, the title of the book is misleading: plague and cholera, tuberculosis and parasites also shaped human history, and it is a particular bias to consider only viruses and the still not well‐identified prion diseases. Moreover, the underlying philosophy of the book is … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/graphic-2.gif