Mosquito
Subtitle: a natural history of our most persistent and deadly foe
By: Andrew Spielman and Michael D'Antonio
Contributors: D'Antonio, Michael
Edition: 1st ed
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
Subjects: Mosquitoes; Mosquitoes as carriers of disease
Description: "Spielman and D'Antonio take a mosquito's-eye view of nature and man. They show us how mosquitoes breed, live, mate, and die, and introduce us to their enemies, both natural and man-made. The authors present tragic and often grotesque examples of how the mosquito has insinuated itself into human history, from the malaria that devastated invaders of ancient Rome, to the yellow fever epidemics that plagued the Civil War-era population of New Orleans, to the current widespread West Nile fever panic.

They portray the eccentric pioneers and heroic scientists who, in the late nineteenth century, first made the connection between mosquitoes and disease. They chronicle the attempts in the twentieth century to wipe mosquito-borne disease off the face of the earth, and how these efforts have backfired thanks to a combination of hubris, miscalculation, and misinformation; they highlight, in particular, the debacle surrounding the use and banning of DDT.

And they explain what we can do as individuals and as a society to protect ourselves and our species."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes index