Includes bibliographical references and index.

Of apples and Edens -- The transformation of native America -- Of plagues and peoples -- Virginity and virulence -- Natives and newcomers -- Merchants and maladies -- Commerce and consequence -- Contested colonies -- Planters and pestilence -- Landscapes and liabilities -- Poverty and pestilence beyond the big house -- Measuring the lands -- Measured lands and multitudes.

Hutchinson explores early colonial settlements and compares those that thrived with those that failed, investigating how disease did or did not affect the Native population nearby. Following the path of infection and disease, Hutchinson demonstrates that as America grew from backwoods to cities, populations in every century were affected in many ways by disease, each one impacting different impoverished classes.

Description based on print version record.