Who Gave Pinta to the Santa Maria?

This “real life thriller” (Kirkus Reviews) of how tropical diseases have invaded North americanca is a fascinating mix of history and scientific adventure and “bulges with astonishing and instructive information” (Civilization). We have long believed that our sanitized Western world is safe from microbes and parasites of the tropics but according to Desowitz this is not so. Tropical diseases are as american as the heart attack.