Human Demography and Disease - Hardcover

'Scott and Duncan offer a fascinating glimpse of the impact of disease on our ancestors that will be of interest to demographers and epidemiologists.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

'This excellent and well-written book addresses longstanding questions in historical demography having to do with the factors that affect population size ... A clear introduction lays out the organization of the book and is extremely helpful ... the presentation style is just right for the reader who wants the gist rather than to be immersed in detail.' American Journal of Human Biology

'In their introduction, Scott and Duncan express the hope that their book will interest readers from the fields of theoretical population biology; demographic, economic, social, medical, agricultural, and geographic history; behaviour; and epidemiology. Because the book spans all these fields, it will be challenging but worthwhile reading for specialists in each of them. I commend it especially to graduate students who want an inspiring example of the use of fresh methods to stimulate fresh thoughts.' JAMA

Much information on population cycles is contained in parish registers. Mathematical techniques described here can provide an insight into mortality patterns in past societies and the ways in which they are subtly influenced by levels of nutrition and by cyclical epidemics of lethal infectious diseases.