Diseases Without Borders: Plagues, Pandemics, and Beyond

by Marc Zimmer

From the infamous Black Death to the more recent COVID-19 pandemic, mass disease outbreaks have punctuated human history. But how do diseases work? What factors contribute to outbreaks? Through thoroughly researched text, complementary sidebars, and clear diagrams, readers will explore the global history of epidemics and pandemics. They'll learn the basics of diseases that have swept across international borders, including their main symptoms, how they spread, and their modern status. Then they'll consider an important What can we learn from the past and present to help predict and contain diseases in the future?

120 pages, Library Binding

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

Marc Zimmer is the Jean C. Tempel ’65 Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College and the author of Glowing Genes (2005), the first popular science book on jellyfish and firefly proteins; Illuminating Diseases (2015); and three books for young adults. His writing has appeared in USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, and he has been interviewed and quoted in the Economist, Science, and Nature. His book Solutions for a Cleaner, Greener Planet has been longlisted for the 2020 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

The State of Science will be released on July 20 2020.