"Rats, Lice and History" is a brilliant chronicle of the impact of epidemics on society. Author Hans Zinsser provides a spirited and illuminating account of the nature of infectious diseases, examining how they afflicted the ancient world and how epidemic diseases influenced political and military history. At the heart of this book is Zinsser's intriguing "biography of a bacillus, " in which he tracks the origins and growth of typhus, one of the most devastating epidemics in the history of humankind. In the age of AIDS this 1934 classic stands as an insightful reminder of how other cultures confronted a major epidemic.