Information on the author
Alan Macfarlane is Professor of Anthropological Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College. In 1986, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. His previous books include The Making of the Modern World and The Riddle of the Modern World, both published by Palgrave.

Blurb
This book aims to solve the problem of how parts of mankind escaped from an apparently inevitable trap of war, famine, and disease in the last three hundred years. Through a detailed comparative analysis of English and Japanese history, it explores such matters as the destruction of war, decline of famine, importance of certain drinks (especially tea), the use of human excrement, and the effects of housing, clothing, and bathing on human health. It also shows how the English and Japanese controlled fertility through marriage and sex.