A Historical Perspective John Moses Historians study the lives of powerful people, the effects of famous battles, and the influence of important ideas. Scholars assume that history is under the control of the human will.
Nature is a sideshow.
Geography and weather are taken for granted. Germs and insects are irrelevant. In fact, natural forces like disease have shaped our perception of the world and determined on a grand scale the course of human events. Diseases like plague, influenza, typhus, tuberculosis, measles, and smallpox have changed human behavior. They have altered the way humans think about themselves and the world around them.