Did food poisoning cause the Black Plague, the Salem witch-hunts, and other significant events in human history? In this pathbreaking book, historian Mary Kilbourne Matossian argues that epidemics, sporadic outbursts of bizarre behavior, and low fertility and high death rates from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries may have been caused by food poisoning from microfungi in bread, the staple food in Europe and America during this period. "A bold book with a stimulating thesis. Matossian's claims for the role of food poisoning will need to be incorporated into any satisfactory account of past demographic trends."--John Walter, Nature "Matossian's work is innovative and original, modest and reasoned, and opens a door on our general human past that historians have not only ignored, but often did not even know existed."--William Richardson, Environmental History Review "This work demonstrates an impressive variety of cross-national sources. Its broad sweep also reveals the importance of the history of agriculture and food and strengthens the view that the shift from the consumption of mold-poisoned rye bread to the potato significantly contributed to an improvement in the mental and physical health of Europeans and Americans."--Naomi Rogers, Journal of American History "This work is a true botanical-historical tour de force."--Rudolf Schmid, Journal of the International Association of Plant Taxonomy "Intriguing and lucid."--William K. Beatty, Journal of the American Medical Association
This innovative survey of world history from earliest times to the present focuses on the role of four factors in the development of humankind: climate, communication and transportation technology, scientific advances, and the competence of political elites. Matossian moves chronologically through fifteen historic periods showing how one or more of the causative factors led to significant breakthroughs in human history. Shaping World History is based on original research and also draws widely from the literature on the history of science, technology, climate, agriculture, and historical epidemiology. This compelling analysis is presented in a personal style and includes reflections on how things work and why they are important.
The source records for Plants, Stars, and the Origins of Religion cover the origins of religion in the Middle East and Europe from prehistoric times to the fall of the Roman Empire. One of these records was the Phaistos Disk from Crete, which may have been intended to serve as a solar calendar, and a decipherment of the Phaistos Disk is included within this book. Author Mary Kilbourne Matossian has given particular attention to evidence for the possible role of psychoactive plants by people in prehistoric and ancient times. At the same time, Plants, Stars, and the Origins of Religion explores some prehistoric and ancient beliefs about stars.
The gods and goddesses of Greek mythology -- among them Artemis, Demeter, and Apollo -- still live in the Western imagination. But many readers are less familiar with the loves and struggles of real people of sixth-century B.C. Greece and the kingdoms around it. Mary Matossian introduces readers to the very human inhabitants of that world. Artemis, a young priestess of the Daughters of Demeter, survives a shipwreck only to come into the hands of slave dealers -- and to be reunited with her twin sister, Galatea. Together they are given refuge by the Queen of the Amazons. Galatea becomes the concubine of King Koba of Sakartvelo, who also introduces Artemis to the pleasures possible between men and women. But Artemis chooses to return to the service of the Mother and the protection of the Mother's priestesses -- until Koba sends his trusted emissary to ask Artemis to become his queen, after Galatea's death. Love develops in an unexpected way, as Galatea's and Artemis's children shape and are shaped by the turmoil created by warrior tribes and changing allegiances in the wild regions around the Black Sea. In the end, the world, characterized by worship of the Mother, gives way to women needing the protection of warlike and very human men. Rich in research and scholarship, The Adventures of Artemis shines with the sights and sounds, the natural details and images, of a faraway time brought close through the life of one woman who experiences and contains the drama and the majesty of the era.
The source records for Plants, Stars, and the Origins of Religion cover the origins of religion in the Middle East and Europe from prehistoric times to the fall of the Roman Empire. One of these records was the Phaistos Disk from Crete, which may have been intended to serve as a solar calendar, and a decipherment of the Phaistos Disk is included within this book. Author Mary Kilbourne Matossian has given particular attention to evidence for the possible role of psychoactive plants by people in prehistoric and ancient times. At the same time, Plants, Stars, and the Origins of Religion explores some prehistoric and ancient beliefs about stars.
This innovative survey of world history from earliest times to the present focuses on the role of four factors in the development of humankind: climate, communication and transportation technology, scientific advances, and the competence of political elites. Matossian moves chronologically through fifteen historic periods showing how one or more of the causative factors led to significant breakthroughs in human history. Shaping World History is based on original research and also draws widely from the literature on the history of science, technology, climate, agriculture, and historical epidemiology. This compelling analysis is presented in a personal style and includes reflections on how things work and why they are important.
Did food poisoning cause the Black Plague, the Salem witch-hunts, and other significant events in human history? In this pathbreaking book, historian Mary Kilbourne Matossian argues that epidemics, sporadic outbursts of bizarre behavior, and low fertility and high death rates from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries may have been caused by food poisoning from microfungi in bread, the staple food in Europe and America during this period. "A bold book with a stimulating thesis. Matossian's claims for the role of food poisoning will need to be incorporated into any satisfactory account of past demographic trends."--John Walter, Nature "Matossian's work is innovative and original, modest and reasoned, and opens a door on our general human past that historians have not only ignored, but often did not even know existed."--William Richardson, Environmental History Review "This work demonstrates an impressive variety of cross-national sources. Its broad sweep also reveals the importance of the history of agriculture and food and strengthens the view that the shift from the consumption of mold-poisoned rye bread to the potato significantly contributed to an improvement in the mental and physical health of Europeans and Americans."--Naomi Rogers, Journal of American History "This work is a true botanical-historical tour de force."--Rudolf Schmid, Journal of the International Association of Plant Taxonomy "Intriguing and lucid."--William K. Beatty, Journal of the American Medical Association
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