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Science 12 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5933, p. 1393
DOI: 10.1126/science.1175732
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Books

Epidemiology:

Epidemics of Fear

Kenneth R. Foster

Dread How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes PublicAffairs, New York, 2009. 322 pp. $26.95, C$31. ISBN 9781586486181.

Exploring biological, social, and narrative aspects of epidemics, Alcabes concludes that the common gap between the hype and the actual levels of damages reflects the crucial roles fear and imagination play in shaping our responses to diseases.

The reviewer is at the Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

E-mail: kfoster{at}seas.upenn.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)