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12 ways past epidemics changed everyday life

Carolyn Day, Department of History.

Last updated April 20, 2020

By Tina Underwood

In a Reader’s Digest article published by MSN, the author looks at historical epidemics and how they shaped building practices and materials, beauty, fashion, vaccines and more. In at least one of the “12 ways” disease changed everyday life, the writer cites a book by Carolyn Day, Furman University associate professor of history. Among other social and cultural outcomes, Day’s book, “Consumptive Chic: A History of  Beauty, Fashion and Disease,” describes the strange co-mingling of beauty with the appearance of having tuberculosis.

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