Review of Sonia Shah's "The Fever"

Sonia Shah's The Fever is the kind of book I like to read: A look at how something so minuscule can change the course of history. The book is a look at the complex process the malaria parasite follows to survive--and the long battle humans have fought to survive malaria.

My one complaint is her often snarky comments about Christianity, such as this one about the enlightened contemporary approach to benevolence as opposed to the British colonial and evangelizing motivations she says were behind medical caregiving in the past (p. 139): "Clinical trials have proven that antimalarial drugs, bed nets, and insecticides – unlike, say, the Ten Commandments – effectively alleviate malaria." Ironically, this quote was found in a chapter with the religious title, "The Karma of Malaria." Or she wrote (p. 173-74), "In 1661, malaria outbreaks so roiled London that Parliament House declared a day of fasting to 'pray for more seasonable weather.' By the 19th century, Britain had more effective ways to counter malaria than divine entreaty."

This seems an unnecessary slap at Christians who are the very people who populate efforts to provide relief from malaria--and who move into malaria-infested areas when response is needed to many other disasters and ailments.


Despite this unnecessary intrusion, I found the book a well-written exploration into an as-yet insolvable problem that humanity has found debilitating and even life-threatening.




 

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