Global Medicine and History. Nation States, Empires and International Cooperation

This essay review considers three books in the history of biomedicine: Michael Bennett’s War against smallpox, Aro Velmet’s Pasteur’s empire, and Cornelia Knab’s, Pathogens crossing borders. The books cover different timeframes, geographic areas, and human and animal diseases, but they all focus on circulation of individuals and ideas in biomedical sciences. Taken together, the books show the role of nation states, old and new colonial empires, and international organizations in shaping public health by influencing the action of individuals in different cultural contexts. Especially in Bennett’s work, war also plays a part, providing channels and constraints for mobility, and a powerful social framework for the fight against diseases.